OWINGS MILLS, Md. — John Harbaugh said he had some coaches and players over to watch the Pittsburgh-Cleveland game that could have eliminated his Baltimore Ravens from the playoffs.
When the Browns won, saving Baltimore's season for now, the reaction was what you'd expect.
“It was uncorked man. It was raucous,” Harbaugh said. “It was great. Everybody was jumping around and fired up and happy. A lot of hugging.”
Now it's time to get back to business for the Ravens, who improbably have a chance to win the AFC North on Sunday night when they play at Pittsburgh. To stay alive, Baltimore needed a win at Green Bay last weekend and a loss by the Steelers. Both those results happened.
The Ravens (8-8) managed to beat the Packers 41-24 on Saturday night despite Lamar Jackson's absence. Jackson has been nursing a back injury, but Tyler Huntley improved to 2-0 as the starting quarterback this season and Derrick Henry ran for 216 yards and four touchdowns.
Then the Browns pulled off a 13-6 upset against Pittsburgh on Sunday. Harbaugh said he wasn't watching that game like a coach.
“I'm in fan mode to be honest with you," he said. "I'm complaining about the play calls.”
Harbaugh said he'll have a better sense Wednesday about Jackson's status for this next game, but the Baltimore coach shot down the idea that Huntley's success would make the Ravens at all hesitant to bring back Jackson.
“The fact that we have a lot of confidence in Tyler is a real big positive, a real plus, but it doesn't factor into whether Lamar plays,” Harbaugh said. “If Lamar's ready to go, he's playing.”
Jackson has missed four games this season because of hamstring and back problems, but he played earlier this month when the Ravens lost at home to Pittsburgh, 27-22.
The rematch will be the final game of the entire NFL regular season — a major showcase on national television.
That's after both teams struggled for much of the season and neither was able to pull away with the division.
“It's a great opportunity. We'll be playing a division championship game on Sunday,” Harbaugh said. “We've worked hard to get to this position. There's a lot of different paths in football, and there's a lot of different paths in life, and this is the path of the 2025 season. So here we are, and our goal is to make the most of it.”
It's the second straight season the Steelers and Ravens are playing an elimination game. Baltimore beat Pittsburgh 28-14 in the playoffs back in January.
If Jackson is able to play, this will be a chance for him to move past a rocky stretch. He hurt his hamstring in Week 4, and by the time he came back Baltimore was 2-5. The Ravens won their first four games after his return, but he dealt with other health issues and still hasn't had a full week of practice since early November.
Losses at home to Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and New England meant the Ravens were facing elimination when they went to Green Bay, and Jackson missed the second half of the game against the Patriots. He wasn't able to play against the Packers, but Harbaugh said there was progress last week with his back injury.
“It was not good at all early in the week, and it improved as the week went on," Harbaugh said. "That was cause for optimism.”
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