What we learned as Purdy struggles in 49ers’ Christmas loss to Ravens

BOX SCORE SANTA CLARA — The 49ers simply were not ready for prime time on Monday night. Quarterback Brock Purdy, who entered the week as the top MVP candidate in the NFL, had the worst game of his football life. And the Baltimore Ravens took full advantage of all the 49ers' shortcomings in rolling to a 33-19 blowout victory at Levi's Stadium on Christmas night. It was only the third time in NFL history teams with the best records in each conference have matched up in December or later since the 1970 merger. The Ravens, now 12-3, showed why they entered as the top team in the AFC. The 49ers? Not so much. This game did not live up to the anticipation, as the 49ers simply were overmatched in every which way. The 49ers fall to 11-4 on the season but still hold the tie-breaker edges for the No. 1 seed in the NFC. But, now, they might have no margin for error with games at Washington and home against the Los Angeles Rams to close out the 2023 NFL regular season. Here is how things fell apart for the 49ers in Week 16: Purdy picked off four times Purdy expertly avoided crucial mistakes in his first 23 regular-season starts with the 49ers. On Monday, he made enough mistakes to last a...