This one’s simple.
There isn’t a more compelling game on the NFL slate this week than the 11-3 Ravens playing at the 11-3 49ers on Monday night.
This is as close to a potential Super Bowl preview as you can get. The 49ers look like the best team in football and the Ravens are clearly the best team in the AFC at the moment.
“You can’t ignore it,” Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton told reporters this week. “It’s two great teams going at it. We’re on Christmas Day. It’s kind of as big as it gets.”
The game night marks just the second time in NFL history that the teams with sole possession of the best record in each conference played each other this late in the season. The other came in 2005 when Seattle beat Indianapolis in Week 16.
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, for one, did his best this week to tap the brakes on the Super Bowl preview talk.
“[The] Super Bowl is in February,” Jackson said. “We’re in December right now. We have to focus on Monday night. I’m not worried about what people are saying.”
The Ravens are more worried about the prolific and talented 49ers, who scored 42 points against both Philadelphia and Dallas.
The Niners are led on offense by second-year marvel quarterback Brock Purdy and his cast of skill-position killers that include running back Christian McCaffrey, receivers Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk, and tight end George Kittle among them.
Purdy, the last pick in last year’s draft, is on a record-setting pace — leading the NFL in TD passes (29), passer rating (119) and yards per attempt (9.9). McCaffrey leads the league with 1,801 yards from scrimmage and is tied for the lead with 20 TDs. Samuel has scored seven TDs in the past three games.
Defensively, the 49ers are led by All-Pros Nick Bosa and Fred Warner.
“They do it all on both sides of the ball,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “They’re tough, they’re physical, they’re disciplined. They play hard. They play winning football. I have a lot of respect for the coaches and the players. There’s just nothing about how they’re built that you couldn’t respect, so we understand that. What I’m looking to see is how we respond to that challenge.”
One thing that’s become a subplot to this game and has gotten under the Ravens’ skin this week is the fact they’re 5.5-point underdogs in the game.
“We feel a little disrespected by that,” Hamilton said. “I feel like we are the best team in the league, and we have an opportunity in front of the country to show it.”
This point spread is the second-largest underdog role of quarterback Jackson’s six-year career. He and the Ravens were seven-point underdogs at the Chiefs in 2018 and lost 27-24 in overtime in what was Jackson’s fourth career NFL start.
Jackson has been favored in 62 of his 75 career regular-season starts and is 9-4 outright as an underdog.
“I don’t want them to pick us,” Jackson said this week. “I like being the underdog. I believe we play better when we’re doubted and [when] people aren’t choosing us to win the game. I feel like we play better all the time, so just do it all the way to February. That’s all I ask.”
Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey said he was “surprised to see” his team as an underdog.
“I definitely want to make that incorrect for sure, and hopefully some people lose some money betting with them and make some money betting with us,” Humphrey said.
“I’m betting on us 10 out of 10 times,” Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith said.
Considering that Jackson is 19-1 in games started against the NFC in his career, that might not be a bad bet.
The 49ers have already clinched the NFC West and are in the driver’s seat to secure the overall No. 1 playoff seed, with a one-game lead over the Eagles and Cowboys.
The Ravens have a one-game lead over the Dolphins (10-4) for the No. 1 seed in the AFC and can clinch their first AFC North title in four years with a win over the 49ers and a loss or tie by the Browns, who play the Texans on Sunday.
For as good as the 49ers are, one area of concern and something to watch in this game is how their defense fares against the run. The Cardinals gashed them for 234 yards last week — the most they’ve allowed in a game in more than six seasons.
With Jackson always a threat to run, this figures to be a difficult challenge for San Francisco — even after Baltimore lost running back Keaton Mitchell to a season-ending knee injury last week. The 49ers had 16 missed tackles against Arizona that contributed to six runs of at least 10 yards.
“You always know what you’re going to get from their team,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said. “We haven’t played them in a little bit, but I know that hasn’t changed. You always see them on tape, you always see their numbers, and they still have the same quarterback who will always be as big of an issue as there is.”
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