Can’t get down rod onto clutch pedal

I have everything in place, but I can’t get the spring clip on. Looking at it, it appears the clutch rod doesn’t want to lay flat against the pedal. It’s hitting the firewall. What could be the problem?

Important to note that I didn’t take this clutch rod off. It fell off when I took it off the z-bar, so it wasn’t clipped when we bought it.