Ravens Squander Chance To Be Considered Serious Contenders—–Jamison Hensley ESPN.com

The Baltimore Ravens can still make the playoffs — and likely will — after falling to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday night.

What truly was lost was the opportunity to stamp themselves as serious contenders. The Ravens just couldn’t match the offensive firepower and were let down by their usually stingy defense in a 39-38 loss to the Steelers.

Just like last Christmas night, the Ravens let a lead slip through their grasp in the final two minutes of the game at Heinz Field. Baltimore’s focus this entire offseason was to build a defense that wouldn’t fold at the end in Pittsburgh

Baltimore (7-6) still holds onto the No. 6 and final playoff spot in the AFC over the Buffalo Bills (7-6) because of a better record among common opponents. The Ravens are expected to win out against the Cleveland Browns (0-13), Indianapolis Colts (3-10) and the Cincinnati Bengals (5-8) and reach the postseason for the first time since 2014.

But there will be an asterisk on the Ravens because a majority of their wins came against backup quarterbacks (EJ Manuel, Matt Moore, Brett Hundley and Tom Savage) and a rookie (DeShone Kizer). By not finishing off Pittsburgh (11-2), the Ravens fall to 2-14 all-time against 10-win teams in the regular season, including 0-7 against teams with 10-plus wins and two or fewer losses.

The Ravens will kick themselves for too many mistakes, from Joe Flacco‘s awful interception on the first drive to Terrell Suggs‘ dropped interception, to the inability to tackle Steelers kickoff returner Martavis Bryant for a safety.

As a result, Baltimore had to watch its biggest rival celebrate winning the AFC North for the second straight year.

Baltimore came seconds away from delivering its statement game of the season. Now, the Ravens will have a question mark hanging over their heads the rest of the way.

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