A six-game losing streak drops the one-time #1-seed (8-3) to 8-9 on the season.
Sunday, January 9, 2022, M&T BANK STADIUM, BALTIMORE – The wild ride on which the Baltimore Ravens took their fans this year was akin to a time-machine trip that dumped the entire franchise back in … ugh… 2007. That year, the Ravens got off to a solid 4-2 start before losing a club-record nine straight games, falling quickly out of the AFC North Division and postseason races, before winning at home on the season’s final Sunday against Pittsburgh. The following day, New Year’s Eve, head coach Brian Billick was terminated after nine seasons on the job. Current head coach John Harbaugh probably won’t undergo the same fate.
Still, Harbaugh underwent a torturous season of his own, placing nearly two dozen players on two separate lists–one for those with COVID-19 positive tests and contacts, as well as the injured reserve list. Players returned slowly, but the season slipped away quickly.
Unfortunately, it didn’t end the same way 2007 did, as the Ravens lost a late lead and fell in overtime to the visiting Steelers, 16-13. It was the Ravens’ fourth overtime game of the year, and they were 2-2 in such games.
Chris Boswell’s 36-yard field goal just after the two-minute warning completed the comeback and left 70,453 fans doubtless pondering what could have been after an 8-3 start that had the Ravens sitting atop the AFC playoff race—as for the focus quickly turned to the future. “Just watch how we bounce back,” safety Chuck Clark said tersely. “That’s all I’ve got to say.”
It wasn’t just the injuries or illnesses that doomed this team.
A crucial three-game stretch that featured hotly-debated two-point conversion calls by Harbaugh seemed to turn the season south. As a result of road losses at Pittsburgh and Cleveland, followed by a home defeat to Green Bay, the Ravens pulled off an NFL rarity, losing three straight games by a total of four points.
Sunday, the Ravens attempted to snap their five-game losing streak – their longest since 2007 and the second-longest in team history – and had a chance to continue their three-year playoff streak when the Indianapolis Colts lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars, 26-11. But the possibility of extending the season ended with a loss, and Baltimore now has a level record of making and missing the postseason at 13 times each.
The Ravens would have not only needed the Colts to lose, a Sunday-night defeat by the Los Angeles Chargers as well as a late-afternoon Miami Dolphins loss or tie. Since the Indianapolis game was the only one of the three taking place while the Ravens were playing, the scoreboard-watching drama was over early.
The Steelers, on the other hand, got a big lift with their win. They will get the seventh seed if the Los Angeles-Las Vegas game doesn’t end in a tie later Sunday (game still to be played at press time).
For the third time in team history, the Ravens could have finished with a winning record despite being eliminated from postseason contention, but the loss made that point moot. Sunday’s loss also doomed the Ravens to finish with a 1-5 AFC North Division record, doing so for the first time since – you guessed it – 2007. It also tentatively left them with the 14th pick in the first round of the April 28-30 daft.
The Raven fans wanted a measure of solace–not just by gaining a split with the Steelers in 2021 and breaking a three-game losing streak against them–but by sending future Hall of Fame quarterback Ben Roethlisberger into retirement on the losing side of the scoreboard. The often-heated nature of the Ravens-Steelers rivalry was acknowledged as the home team trotted out all-time franchise sack leader Terrell Suggs as its “Legend Of The Game.”
Roethlisberger completed 30 of 44 passes on the day and directed a ten-play, 50-yard drive for a go-ahead six-yard touchdown pass to Dionate Johnson late in regulation. He then converted two third-down throws and a fourth-down pass–exploiting the Ravens’ bottom-ranked pass defense for the only time in the game –to set up Boswell’s game-winning kick.
The Ravens later rallied to tie it again on Justin Tucker’s 36-yard field goal, but the team could not get into position to try a game-winner either in regulation or in the extra session despite winning the coin toss.
The season’s end is usually a time to take stock of team accomplishments, but two notable Ravens notched individual milestones of their own.
“I’m proud to say I’m proud of this team, these brothers I play with,” Andrews said. “We’re going to hit the lab (and) go back to work. “We have a really, really good team. We’re going to be just fine. We’ve got the pieces. We’ve got the coaches. It’s time to go to work this offseason and come back strong.”
Speaking of Andrews, he already held the Ravens’ single-season yardage record, but he needed five receptions to break Derrick Mason’s 2007 single-year reception mark. Andrews got eight catches for 85 yards to clear Mason’s standard.
Unfortunately, the turnover-prone Ravens gave the ball away three times in this game, two on Tyler Huntley interceptions. He completed 16 of 31 passes and played to a 37.2 rating. The Ravens finished with a minus-11 turnover ratio, forcing only 15 opponent giveaways. So it was up to the Ravens’ run game, working against the Steelers’ 31st-ranked run defense, that gave Baltimore field position and momentum for most of the day.
Latavius Murray ran for 150 of the team’s 249 rushing yards, including a season-long 46-yard touchdown that broke the Ravens’ 18-drive streak without an offensive touchdown. Murray is one of at least 15 unrestricted free agents the team must make decisions about this offseason.
The first half of this game featured turnovers and seven straight punts by both teams as they went to the half tied at 3-3. But the Ravens did have a 157-82 edge in yardage, and they had nine first downs to the Steelers’ four. Pittsburgh rookie back Najee Harris didn’t have a chance to match that output, leaving the game in the first half with a right shoulder injury. He would later return to the game and contribute to the Steelers’ rally, helped by a punt return to mid-field that set up the Steelers’ go-ahead fourth-quarter touchdown, countered by Andrews’ 11-yard catch and Huntley’s 23-yard run that preceded Tucker’s game-tying field goal.
But with Roethlisberger ending his career by finding holes in a depleted Baltimore secondary, the Steelers were able to get a fourth straight win over the Ravens, sweeping them for a second straight year and ending their season.
The bruised and battered Ravens now head into an offseason of uncertainty, reflection, and bewilderment, just as they did in 2007, which was also the last time the team finished fourth and last in the division. And this time, they can’t go into the next few months with a good taste in their mouth from a win over Pittsburgh.
