Ravens' Playoff Opponent Coming Into Focus

The Baltimore Ravens will likely face a familiar foe in the wild card round.

Nov 25, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh (left) shakes hands with brother and Los Angeles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh after the game at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

This season's "HarBowl" between Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh and Los Angeles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh was quite the fun time, as the former's team won 30-23 on the road to help him improve to 3-0 against his younger brother.

So, how about an encore performance?

As the regular season winds down, the Ravens and Chargers look like they're destined to meet again in the wild card round, this time in Baltimore. The Ravens currently occupy the No. 3 seed while the Chargers, who clinched their playoff berth Saturday with a 40-7 blowout win over the New England Patriots, occupy the No. 6 seed with both teams having just one game remaining.

For this to happen, the Ravens must first clinch the AFC North by beating the Cleveland Browns in Week 18 (they can clinch even if they lose but more on that later).

After that, the two other games to look at in Week 18 are the Chargers travelling to face the Las Vegas Raiders and the Pittsburgh Steelers hosting the Cincinnati Bengals. If the Chargers win and the Steelers lose, then Los Angeles will move up to the No. 5 seed and face the No. 4 seed Houston Texans while Pittsburgh would come to Baltimore Any other combination of results would mean the Chargers face the Ravens and the Steelers face the Texans.

To be fair, there actually is a decent chance of that scenario happening. The Bengals are miraculously still alive and will be fighting for their playoff lives against a Steelers team that's lost three-straight games, each by multiple scores. On the other hand, the Chargers should (knock on wood) have little trouble with a Raiders team that is among the worst in football.

Of course, this is all assuming that the Ravens win the AFC North. If they lose the division, which can happen with a loss and a Steelers win, then they'd head to Houston while the Chargers head to Pittsburgh. Baltimore just blew out Houston 31-2 on the road on Christmas Day.

There is also a very slim chance for the Ravens to move up to the No. 2 seed, but they'd need to win and have the Buffalo Bills lose their final two games, both against weak opponents. It's possible, but don't put any money on Baltimore getting that spot.

The playoffs may be right around the corner, but for now, the Ravens' primary focus is next week's regular season finale against the Browns.

"We need to be 1-0 to win the AFC North, and that will be our focus after we get some rest," head coach John Harbaugh told reporters Wednesday. We'll have rest until ... We'll get the guys out, bring them back on Monday, and we'll get started for the Browns, which is always a very tough team, tough opponent, division game, but it will be for the AFC North crown, and we're going to need to be locked in for that."

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