Welp, that about settles that.
The Baltimore Ravens were the bull of the woods, to quote late pro wrestler “The American Dream,” Dusty Rhodes, on Monday night, as the Ravens picked off San Francisco quarterbacks Brock Purdy and Sam Darnold five times and routed the 49ers, 33-19 (Lamar Jackson leads Ravens past 49ers in top 2 showdown).
The Ravens improve to 12-3 and have the AFC’s best overall record, at least for now. If they beat the Miami Dolphins in Baltimore next week, they’ll clinch it.
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson played like a most valuable player, going 23-of-35 for 252 yards and two touchdowns (to Zay Flowers and Nelson Agholor) and rushing for 45 more.
The 49ers fall to 11-4 and into a tie with Detroit and Philadelphia with that record, all three with the best record in the NFC. San Francisco has a win over Philly, but hasn’t played Detroit. The home field advantage in the NFC could come down to the bitter end of the season.
San Francisco visits Washington and then hosts the Los Angeles Rams. Detroit plays at Dallas on Saturday, then hosts Minnesota. And Philly hosts Arizona, then plays at the New York Giants. The Lions’ game at Dallas and the Niners’ win at Philadelphia now look very, very big.
San Francisco wins the top seed if it wins its last two games.
Purdy’s interceptions began early – the first one was a poor decision, one he tried to force into the end zone, picked off by Kyle Hamilton (who was injured later in the game) – but there were some tipped balls in there. But Purdy was far from the only reason the 49ers lost. The Niners’ offensive line couldn’t keep the Ravens from getting to Purdy, Jackson wasn’t exactly harassed in the pocket, receivers were dropping balls right and left (Deebo Samuel had a very bad drop in the second half), and both Purdy and left tackle Trent Williams were injured late in the game.
Purdy finished 18 for 32 for 255 yards and the four picks. Darnold came in and finished the contest, throwing a fourth-quarter touchdown to Ronnie Bell.
There was this note for San Francisco: running back Christian McCaffrey ran for 102 yards and a score and had 28 receiving yards. He set a new 49ers record with his eighth straight game with at least 100 yards from scrimmage.
The Ravens scored 30 points in the second and third quarters – blame Purdy all you want, but where was the vaunted 49ers defense?
Linebacker Fred Warner summed up the 49ers’ mindset afterward.
“The mindset is we can’t let one turn into two,” Warner said. “We’ve got to wipe this one. Learn from it, of course, watch the tape hard, be honest with yourself, but we’ve got to get right back to work. We can’t let this affect our confidence as a team. We know who we are.”
