Can The Ravens Be Trusted In The Playoffs?

While the Ravens have had a great season and are playing out of their minds right now, does history indicate failure this season?

There's no question who the best team in the AFC is this season. An argument can be made that the Baltimore Ravens are the best team in the entire NFL as we head into Wild Card weekend.

Yet, with a 13-4 season under its belt, winning the No. 1 overall seed in the AFC and a first-round bye for Wild Card weekend, should we be expecting disappointment from John Harbaugh and Co. this postseason?

History says yes ... until it doesn't.

Deadspin says the Ravens can't be trusted. I'm not so sure. The Ravens have dominated good teams like Jacksonville, San Francisco and Miami as the regular season drew to a close. Yes, a season finale loss to the Steelers didn't look great, but that was without quarterback MVP candidate Lamar Jackson and some other important roster pieces.

What does history tell us? Since 2018, Baltimore boasts just ONE postseason win - the only career playoff win for Jackson - against the Titans in the 2020 Wild Card round.

And since the Super Bowl win over the 49ers in 2012, the Ravens have just two total postseason wins. What's different this year, if anything? A lot.

Harbaugh's decision to sit Jackson in the meaningless Week 18 game might have been a stroke of genius, although I usually don't subscribe to that theory. Jackson is probably an exception because of his injury history in recent seasons.

A healthy Jackson will be the key to a long playoff run. Also, the fact that the Ravens have home-field advantage until the Super Bowl will help. Baltimore was 7-1 this year at M&T Bank Stadium.

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Right now, it's "go-time" for the Ravens. They have an off week with the bye, but Harbaugh will no doubt keep practice intense, but not overly so. We won't know if the one-week layoff hurt the team until the divisional round.

Jackson is an MVP candidate and rightfully so, and we can only hope his MVP regular season performance carries over into the postseason. It's time for Baltimore to prove to the rest of the world they deserve to be in the discussion with one of the best organizations in the league over the past three decades with a third Super Bowl championship in 24 seasons.