By Greg Hazley

A widely scrutinized, heated handshake and scrum between two NFL coaches on Sunday was defused in part by the efforts of San Francisco 49ers director of PR, Bob Lange.

After the 49ers upset the previously undefeated Detroit Lions, pumped-up 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh ran onto the field for the customary handshake with Lions head coach Jim Schwartz. Harbaugh, in his excitement, slapped Schwartz' hand admittedly with too much force. Words were exchanged and a scuffle ensued that was captured by cameras.

The showdown was broken up by Lange, who ran in between the two irate coaches exclaming "WhoaWhoaWhoaWhoa!!!!!!," acccording to Sports Illustrated's Peter King, just as Schwartz "was about to get at Harbaugh and possibly do something he might regret for a long, long time."

Not only did Lange help difuse an ugly incident, he kept the story from straying too far away from the 49ers' big win. While most football highlights led with the coaches' fight Sunday night, Lange likely did a solid service to his franchise in limiting the damage.

[Watch the clip at FOX Sports]