The Ravens already knew they needed a win over the Cleveland Browns in Week 17 to keep their playoff hopes alive, but one of their two remaining possibilities for help was thrown out on Monday night.
Baltimore would have clinched a playoff spot with a win on Sunday and Cincinnati losing its final two games, but the Bengals defeated the Denver Broncos on Monday night to officially clinch a playoff spot. They will play the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field on Sunday night with the winner taking the AFC North crown.
Head coach John Harbaugh and the Ravens are still in the hunt, however, as they can punch their ticket to the postseason with a win and a Kansas City victory over the San Diego Chargers. At 9-6, the Ravens currently hold the same record as the Chargers, but San Diego’s Week 13 win in Baltimore serves as the tiebreaker.
Harbaugh’s younger brother Jim was unable to lead San Francisco to a win over the Chargers on Saturday, so the seventh-year head coach will now turn to his NFL mentor Andy Reid and the Chiefs for the necessary help to get into the playoffs. Harbaugh served as the special teams coordinator under Reid for eight years in Philadelphia before becoming the head man in Baltimore in 2008.
“Our emphasis is completely and squarely on the Cleveland Browns,” Harbaugh said. “That’s what we’re going to be doing. I’m sure they’ll flash the score up there; I’m sure we’ll see it. It’ll be a matter of [looking up], ‘OK, what’s the score?’ But we’re not going to be immersed in any other game. That’s a recipe for disaster.”
After the Orioles were swept by the Royals in the American League Championship Series in October, perhaps it’s in the stars for Kansas City to do Baltimore a favor by beating the Chargers on Sunday.
Otherwise, the Ravens will face the reality of having missed the playoffs for the second straight year.
Luke Jones
Luke Jones is the Ravens and Orioles beat reporter for WNST BaltimorePositive.com and is a PFWA member. His mind is consumed with useless sports knowledge, pro wrestling promos, and movie quotes, but he often forgets where he put his phone. Luke's favorite sports memories include being one of the thousands of kids who waited for Cal Ripken's autograph after Orioles games in the summer of 1995, attending the Super Bowl XXXV victory parade with his dad in the pouring rain, and watching the Terps advance to the Final Four at the Carrier Dome in 2002. Follow him on social media @BaltimoreLuke or email him at Luke@wnst.net.
8
Paid Advertisement
Podcast Audio Vault
88Paid Advertisement
Share the Post:
8Paid Advertisement
Right Now in Baltimore
As MLB moves toward inevitable labor war, where do Orioles fit into the battle?
We're all excited about the possibilities of the 2026 MLB season but the clouds of labor war are percolating even in spring training. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the complicated complications of six decades of Major League Baseball labor history and the bubbling situation for a salary cap. And what will the role of the new Baltimore Orioles ownership be in the looming dogfight?
Profits are up, accountability is down and internal report cards are a no-no for guys like Steve
The NFL continues to rule the sports world even in the slowest of times. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the NFLPA report cards on franchises and transparency and accountability amongst billionaires who can't even get an Epstein List regular who just hired John Harbaugh to come to light and off their ownership ledgers. We'd ask Steve Bisciotti about it, but of course he's evaporated again for a while...
Orioles' Westburg out through at least April with partially torn elbow ligament
Since playing in the 2024 All-Star Game, Jordan Westburg has endured a relentless run of injuries.
888Paid Advertisement
