Baltimore Ravens Open as ‘Big Underdogs’ vs. San Francisco 49ers

The Baltimore Ravens will be underdogs when they play the San Francisco 49ers on Christmas Day.

Despite having the best record in the AFC, the Baltimore Ravens will be underdogs when they head across the country to take on the San Francisco 49ers on Christmas Day.

“I view it as a really tough game against a really tough team that plays a really good brand of football,” Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said. “They do it all on both sides of the ball, they’re tough, they’re physical, they’re disciplined, they play hard, they play winning football.”

The 49ers currently hold sole possession of the No. 1 seed in the NFC after trouncing the Eagles in Philadelphia by a score of 42-19. 

Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens are tied for the best record in football at 11-3 / Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

San Francisco quarterback Brock Purdy is the MVP favorite at -200 heading into Week 16 according to FanDuel, with Lamar Jackson trailing behind him at +450. Jackson could leapfrog Purdy if Baltimore can pull off the upset. 

Christmas Day’s game will be a battle between the top seed in each conference, and possibly the two best teams in football. The 49ers and Ravens currently have the best odds to meet in the Super Bowl, in what would be a rematch of Super Bowl XLVII.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for them,” Harbaugh said. “I’ve got 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. I'm looking to see how we respond to that challenge. We're going to go in there big underdogs. Traveling all the way across the country on Christmas Day. So we’ll be looking forward to it, it’ll be a big challenge for us.”

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The matchup will be the prime-time game for Christmas Day, kicking off at 8:15 p.m. from Levi’s Stadium.