A Day to Remember During a Season to Forget
I can’t even imagine what it must have been like to walk in John Harbaugh’s shoes for the past 4 months.
We all had such high expectations.
I remember sitting in Steve Bisciotti’s office during the last day of mandatory minicamp practices, discussing the team. We used the same expression — “loaded” when describing the Ravens.
Maybe they were back in June, but injuries clearly unloaded the roster.
Yet to Harbaugh’s credit he never allowed the injuries and the underachievers to weaken his resolve. The team never fractured. They remained whole.
There was no mutiny.
Despite the win on Sunday the team’s status remains harbored in adverse waters but the seas seem to be calming, the “crew” appears galvanized. That solidarity is a reflection on Harbaugh and his staff and any department head or any business owner should be paying attention.
It’s easy to navigate the ship when the wind is calm and the water is flat.
But what happens when neither is the case?
The lessons that observers can learn vicariously through the team’s struggles aren’t just applicable to business. They are life lessons as well.
We’ve watched Harbaugh’s pressers. We’ve listened to the questions and his answers. The weight of the season was written upon his face, audible in the tone of his voice.
But on Sunday and Monday we saw something different. A win against the Steelers helps but I believe it to be much more than that. I believe that the team sticking together only strengthened the principles upon which Harbaugh’s work ethic stands.
In today’s NFL when the Jason Peters of the world call out “sick” to preserve their bodies and help assure the next season’s salary, the Ravens did none of that. They fought their way through the adversity and while that challenging journey is far from over, the light is now visible and the tunnel doesn’t seem so endless. A (4-10) team can easily quit. A (6-8) team can quit. We only need to look at the NY Giants.
The Baltimore Ravens never quit.
Sunday meant a lot to the fan base. That win put a bounce in the collective step of the fans. It was a ray of hope. It was a day to remember during a season to forget. It fueled faith. And while the Ravens winning percentage is vastly different from the teams that will be alive on January 4, Sunday was proof that they aren’t that far away. A few new players, a healthy roster and an organization that will learn from its past mistakes will return the Ravens to their rightful place — among the NFL’s best.
We should all thank John Harbaugh for the life lesson. He has taught us that when facing adversity you fight through the storm with steely-eyed conviction while leading those who may not share the same resolve.
Good things lie in wait for the Ravens and when they happen, I will take pause before basking in the glory.
I’ll first remember most what they did when things weren’t going so well.
