Ravens React to AFC North Title: 'Mind on Something Else'

The Baltimore Ravens are AFC North champions once again, but they have more ambitious goals in mind.

Jan 4, 2025; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; The Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh and the Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski react after the game at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images / Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

The Baltimore Ravens are AFC North champions for the second-consecutive season, though it was much more of a battle this time.

Coming out of their Week 14 bye, the Ravens trailed the Pittsburgh Steelers by two games in the division standings and were on the losing end of the tiebreaker. Their prospects for another division title looked bleak, but thanks to four-straight wins, as well as four-straight Steelers losses, they did it.

The turning point came in Week 16, when the Ravens beat the Steelers 34-17 to finally end their cold streak against their arch rivals. They then took control of their own destiny in Week 17, and officially clinched the division with a 35-10 win over the Cleveland Browns on Saturday.

Winning a division title is always an impressive feat, especially in a division as cutthroat as the AFC North, but that's far from the only goal the Ravens have in mind.

"It's awesome. It's an awesome thing," head coach John Harbaugh told reporters post-game. "It's a week-to-week league, and you really just have to take it one week at a time, one day at a time, one play at time, and our guys have done a really good job of holding onto that. That 1-0 T-shirt that we all wear around is real, and so, four wins later, we're the AFC North Champions.

"Now, that's going to be exciting, and we're going to enjoy it tonight, and we're going to watch games tomorrow and see who we play, but we're moving on for what we've been working for."

As the No. 3 seed, the Ravens will host either the Steelers or the Los Angeles Chargers in next week's wild card round. Thanks to the Steelers' loss on Saturday night, they will head to Baltimore if the Chargers defeat the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday. If the Chargers lose, then they will head to Baltimore instead.

Going into the playoffs, it helps that the Ravens are as battle-tested as they come. They're 7-2 against teams still in the AFC playoff picture, with their losses coming against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 1 and the Steelers in Week 11.

"We don't talk about that too much, but it was a tough schedule, and we played teams when they were at their best quite often, and they were on a roll when we played them, and I thought our guys handled that," Harbaugh said. "You get forged; you get tough. And when you come from iron, then you become iron, and I think our guys have done that. Let's see where it takes us."

The Ravens have been near the top of the AFC for over half a decade now, but their playoff performances have not been up to their normal standard. Now with the division officially clinched, it's time to get to work in changing that narrative.

"I'm focused on the wild card game; I'm not going [to] lie to you," quarterback Lamar Jackson said. "I'm cool [with] what's going on today. I'm cool, don't get me wrong, but my mind [is] on something else."

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