Top 5 takeaways from 49ers Week 13 loss vs. Ravens

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Raheem Mostert #31 of the San Francisco 49ers (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /

The San Francisco 49ers held tough, but eventually fell to the Baltimore Ravens 20-17 in an exciting Week 13 battle. Niner Noise looks at the five takeaways from this game.

It was an exciting game, but the San Francisco 49ers fell to the Baltimore Ravens on the road 20-17 to fall to 10-2 for the season.

Unfortunately, a Seattle Seahawks victory on Monday Night Football the same week means the Niners have lost first place in the NFC West (for now). And the No. 1 overall seed in the conference, which now is in the hands of the New Orleans Saints.

Luckily, the 49ers’ still-very healthy record should see them comfortably hold their own in the battle for the Wild Card spots at the very least.

There isn’t much to go on about with this loss that won’t be covered in the takeaways, so let’s get to it right away.

No. 1: 49ers still control their own destiny

It was a tough loss, but a close loss to a Super Bowl contender on the road still validated San Francisco’s status as a top team of the NFL.

More importantly, despite slipping in the standings, the Baltimore loss actually changes little for the Niners’ aspirations of the No. 1 seed.

Put simply, if the 49ers had beaten the Ravens and stayed a game ahead of the Saints and Seahawks, losses to those teams in Weeks 14 and 17, respectively, would result in them being below both teams on tiebreakers.

This remains the case, except San Francisco will just be below them on simple overall record. Meanwhile, a win over the Saints this upcoming week and Seattle in the Week 17 showdown will result in the 49ers winning the conference on record (assuming the 49ers take care of business against the Atlanta Falcons and Los Angeles Rams) exactly the same as they had won.

Defeating the Ravens on the road would have been a nice thing for San Francisco to hang on the mantle, as well as notch another win in the column, but the loss actually hasn’t done anything at all if the 49ers are to make the road to the Super Bowl go through California in the NFC.