The Ravens are clearly the NFL’s best after beating the 49ers

After grinding out a win over the previously 10-1 San Francisco 49ers at home, the Baltimore Ravens have demonstrated they are the NFL’s best team.

The game of the week in the NFL was an epic showdown between powerhouses in Baltimore as the 49ers brought their 10-1 record to town to take on the 9-2 Ravens. The game lived up to the hype and then some, with the Ravens escaping with a last-minute win to show they are the league’s best team.

The contest was a defensive battle from the start, with the 49ers’ strong defense containing Lamar Jackson’s passing attack, but the Ravens also did a tremendous job on that side of the football. The 49ers, who torched Green Bay for 37 points a week ago, could only generate 17 as the Ravens clamped down on the San Francisco passing attack.

Jimmy Garoppolo did complete 15-of-21 passes with a touchdown, but they went for only 165 yards. George Kittle, who was a difference maker for the 49ers last week, was held to just two catches for 17 yards on four targets.

Baltimore did what it usually does, running the football at will, with Jackson rushing for 101 yards and the Ravens running for 178 as a team. That game plan was clearly designed to limit possessions, turning the contest into a more defensive battle that the Ravens were equipped to handle on their home field.

The win was the eighth straight for Baltimore, which improved to 10-2 as they keep the pressure on the New England Patriots for home field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. The Ravens did defeat the Patriots in the midst of this winning streak, and they can now pair that with a win over the NFC’s best team entering the day, the San Francisco 49ers.

Both of those games were at home, but it’s hard to deny how great the Ravens are considering they account for two of the three losses those two elite teams have suffered all season long. Jackson is the NFL’s biggest game breaker right now, and even a defense with as much speed as San Francisco struggled to find a way to slow him down.

A ton of the credit for this goes to John Harbaugh and the Ravens’ coaching staff, which is one of the best in the league. Baltimore is capable of beating teams in multiple ways, and they showed that again today against the 49ers, proving they are the most dangerous team right now.