The Ravens’ playoff hopes are on life support.
First, they must beat the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday … and that’s what they plan to do.
“We’re not going to sit there and talk about who we need to root for; I think our guys pretty much know who that is,” coach John Harbaugh said about all of the postseason scenarios. “So, our focus is going to be on our game: winning our game. So, nothing matters if we don’t win. That’s really the focus every week, and that’s what we’re going to focus on.”
In addition to beating Pittsburgh, the Ravens also need the Chargers and Colts to lose, in addition to a Dolphins loss or tie.
Under these scenarios, the Ravens have a 3.5% chance to make the postseason, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index.
However, even if the Ravens somehow make the playoffs, how much damage can they do with the current roster that has been plagued by injuries and COVID issues before the season even began?
They lost all three running backs on their depth chart during training camp.
The Ravens have only one remaining starter — safety Chuck Clark — in the secondary because of injuries.
The offensive line has also dealt with new players each week because they’ve been shorthanded.
Finally, starting quarterback Lamar Jackson has not played since Week 14 because of an ankle injury.
It might even be beneficial to lose to the Steelers, finish 8-9 and have a draft pick in the 15th to 16th range.
The Ravens are hopeful that Jackson could be back in the lineup for the regular-season finale. However, does Harbaugh want to risk further injury to Jackson’s ankle in the final game?
Tyler Huntley has played two games in Jackson’s absence and Josh Johnson has played one. Those backup quarterbacks played effectively but the Ravens lost all three of those games and have dropped five straight overall. They have gone from the top seed in the playoffs six weeks ago to the outside looking in.
Five losses in a row, at some point you need to win to talk about the playoffs. https://t.co/DoyCiGzHu2
— Tony Lombardi (@RSRLombardi) January 2, 2022
After leading the Ravens to an 8-3 start, Jackson also had some struggles.
Over his past five games, including the Week 14 matchup with the Browns when he was injured in the first quarter, Jackson completed 100 of 157 pass attempts (63.7%) for 939 yards with six touchdowns and eight interceptions (71.6 rating). He was sacked 17 times.
Nonetheless, Jackson is still the Ravens franchise quarterback and GM Eric DeCosta will get back to the bargaining table this offseason to work out a long-term deal. Jackson could be looking for a deal in excess of $40 million per season, so the Ravens do have a big decision to make and want to make sure he is healthy over the long term.
The Ravens also will likely bring back Huntley to serve as the main backup.
Jackson would probably like to compete against Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger one more time. Roethlisberger plans to retire and Sunday could be his final NFL game.
The Ravens would like to send him out with a loss.
But there is a bigger picture to consider.
However, Harbaugh is determined to finish the season on a high note.
“We obviously are moving into this game against Pittsburgh, our last game of the season, and we need to win it,” Harbaugh said. “So, that’s going to be our focus, 100% – everything we can do to play our best football this game coming up. It’s been a crazy stretch. It’s been a tough five-game stretch here without a win. So, we want to win. That’s what we’re going to try to do, everything we can do to get that done.”
