Cue Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well” soundtrack. It’s only fitting that the Baltimore Ravens‘ final game of the 2021 regular season would be decided in overtime.
In Week 17, the Ravens officially tied the NFL record for the most games decided by two or fewer points. Week 18 didn’t disappoint, at least not when it came to another nail-bitingly close finish.
In a win-or-go-home matchup against their division rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Ravens suffered their most soul-crushing defeat yet, losing 16-13 in overtime.
Ever wonder why John Harbaugh always wanted to go for two at the end of games? This is why. Baltimore didn’t have the depth or stamina to hold off a Steelers team re-inspired by Ben Roethlisberger’s final regular-season appearance under center.
The Ravens entered this week with a roughly three percent chance of making it to the playoffs, and the saddest part is: they really could’ve done it. That three percent chance exponentially increased as other NFL games played out.
Somehow, the Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Indianapolis Colts, and all they would have needed was a Miami Dolphins loss/tie and Los Angeles Chargers loss, both very plausible scenarios.
But the Ravens couldn’t finish the most pressing task at hand, which was eliminating the Steelers from playoff contention.
In Big Ben’s last regular-season game, they gave Pittsburgh something to celebrate about. And they’ll be the ones packing their bags and heading back home to Baltimore instead.
Here are the studs and duds from Week 18’s game.