The Ravens' playoff pendulum has once again swung toward the pits. Baltimore went into its critical Week 14 home game vs. Pittsburgh leading the AFC North at 6-6. The team came out of the 27-22 loss in second-place at 6-7, now trailing the 7-6 Steelers by a full game, and for now, also the head-to-head tiebreaker.
For a while, it looked like the Ravens would finish their rally from a 1-5 start before their Week 7 bye and still make the AFC playoffs as champions of the NFL's weakest division in 2025. The reality, there have been telltale signs of the Ravens not being good enough to earn even a wild-card berth for a long time.
The Ravens going 6-0 after their bye to get to a game above.500 was admirable. But losing back-to-back home division games to the Bengals and Steelers to push below will likely cause them to miss the playoffs for the first time in four seasons and only the second time in eight seasons.
Baltimore is only a game out, but the rough loss to Pittsburgh spells doom for a team that has struggled to find consistent offense and defense all season. Here's why it's time to accept the macabre fate and to nevermore mention their playoff hopes in 2025.
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Ravens' playoff picture
The Ravens started Week 14 as the No. 4 seed in the AFC playoffs. They will go into Week 15 as at best the No. 10 team. They are now looking up at the No. 8 Texans (7-5) and No. 9 Chiefs (6-6). Those teams behind the Ravens both beat the Ravens and play each other on Sunday night. Furthermore, the Dolphins also have rallied to get to 6-7, even with the Ravens having beaten them in Week 9.
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Ravens' remaining schedule
This is why the Ravens should accept the no-playoff reality. Look at this closing stretch of opponents:
- Week 15: at Bengals (4-9)
- Week 16: vs. Patriots (11-2)
- Week 17: at Packers (8-3-1)
- Week 18: at Steelers (7-6)
The Ravens just lost a messy home game to Cincinnati at home in Week 13. They will be significant underdogs facing much more complete teams against New England and Green Bay. There also should be little hope they can beat the Steelers in a rematch in Pittsburgh.
The good news is, the Ravens are 3-2 on the road so far. The bad news is their away wins have come against Miami, Minnesota and Cleveland. That trio of teams after Week 15 is much tougher.
The Ravens came back from near-dead once. They are not set up to do it again with the way both Lamar Jackson and the defense are playing.
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