Ben Stockwell writes:

So after five months and 267 games another NFL season is in the books, and the Baltimore Ravens are your Super Bowl champions for the next 12 months. Some of us saw this upset win coming, others didn’t, but one thing is for certain — this will be a Super Bowl that lives long in the memory thanks to some remarkable on-field performances, to go along with the over-told sideline stories.

Neither side played a perfect game, but both showed for stretches why they had made it and why either team would have been a worthy champion. The Ravens came out with a fast start, making plays on offense and punching the 49ers’ vaunted running game in the mouth early. They shackled Frank Gore and forced handoff after handoff on option plays, while finding and defeating the 49ers’ pull blocks when they tried to bring power to the ground game. The 49ers overall running stats for the game are still impressive, helped by Colin Kaepernick’s scrambles, but for stretches the Ravens did as much damage to the 49ers’ rushing offense as any team has all season long.

For the Ravens, and Joe Flacco, this is the culmination of five years hard work. After having come up short each season in Flacco’s career leading to this date, this is a fitting send off for much of the Ravens’ veteran core. To the victor the spoils, but this close defeat could be all the fuel that a talented 49ers team needs to fire a burning desire to get back to the Super Bowl next season.

Here are some of the performances that ensured the Ravens clinched their second Super Bowl victory in franchise history...

Read more.

tl;dr The Ravens played their best and the 49ers did not. Both teams had some great plays.

Related:

Did Artie Lange ruin the Super Bowl for 49ers cornerbackChris Culliver? One could argue that Chris Culliver ruined his own Super Bowl with his unfortunate anti-gay comments to the comedian during media day. Culliver then went on and had the worst day of his career culminating by the 56-yard touchdown pass he yielded to Jacoby Jones.

Lange by the way, said that he was surprised that Culliver talked to him, “Because, frankly, I look like a homeless person,” Lange said. But back to Culliver.

According to profootballfocus.com, Culliver gave up 123 yards receiving in all, the most of his career, and that doesn’t include a pass interference penalty. It would be tough for any young player to perform when 10′s of millions tuning in believe you are a bigot.

However, according to profootballfocus, Culliver has struggled since the Dec. 16 game in New England, which, of course, coincides with the 49ers’ defensive collapse. What the 49ers have to determine is whether Cullivers’ issues are a symptom of the team’s much-publicized lack of pressure, or did Culliver hit a lull in his technique?

This might determine how intently the 49ers will look for cornerbacks with their 14 picks in the upcoming 2013 draft.