There were no guarantees on this very cold day with frozen field–even at home. Bengals end Baltimore’s season, 31-27.
M&T BANK STADIUM, BALTIMORE – Going into Sunday’s regular-season finale, the Ravens had a 97% chance to make the playoffs. But to paraphrase skinflint baseball owner Charlie Comiskey in Eight Men Out, “Ninety-seven isn’t one hundred.”
The stakes were super-high, too: win and a playoff berth was assured, no matter what happened elsewhere.
Recovering from a flat offensive start, Baltimore got to within a minute of making that 97% prediction true. Then Andy Dalton threw a 49-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Boyd on fourth-and-12 with 44 seconds left.
One, late play gave the Bengals a 31-27 win before an announced crowd of 70,507 fans, who watched the coldest home game in Ravens’ history.
The outcome was consequential. Since winning Super Bowl XLVII, the Ravens will miss the postseason for the fourth time in five years and the 12th time in the team’s 22-season history. It happened by virtue of the Buffalo Bills’ 22-16 win over the Miami Dolphins and the Tennessee Titans’ 15-10 triumph over Jacksonville.
To add to the misery, a loss by either the Bills or Titans would have sent the Ravens to the playoffs — even with a loss to Cincy. Now the Ravens will sit home despite ending the season with a winning record (9-7) for the second time in team history. In 2004, the Ravens lost four of six down the stretch (including a home loss to Cincinnati) to fall out of the playoffs–also with a 9-7 mark.
“(It’s) disappointing,” quarterback Joe Flacco said. “We didn’t play well enough to win. This is the league where you don’t get anything given to you.”
“We have to deal with the fact that we didn’t get it done,” Flacco continued. “Stuff like that happens. You have to credit the other team. It’s tough for us to deal with right now.”
It was a game that almost had the Ravens reverse a troubling season-long trend–losing when trailing at the half (0-6).
But the Ravens came storming back with 17 unanswered points, thanks to an outstanding fourth-and-3 Alex Collins run and a Mike Wallace touchdown catch near the pylon. Collins bounced back from two subpar games to gain 78 yards on 20 carries. The Wallace score was also the 200th career touchdown pass for Flacco (25-for-47, 203 yards, two touchdowns, interception, sack, 69.7 rating).
Those plays gave the Ravens the lead for the first time, 27-24, with 8:48 to go.
After an abysmal first half, Flacco completed 18 of his first 24 second-half passes as the Ravens’ defense tightened and stole momentum for the home side.
A Ravens’ defense that was buttressed by numerous draft picks and offseason free-agent acquisitions could not hold off Cincinnati.
With 2:43 to go, the Bengals took over the ball on their own 10-yard line with one timeout left. A Brandon Carr pass-interference call and Eric Weddle holding call – the latter negated an interception – soon put the ball near midfield.
Still, though, the Ravens were one play away from winning and going to the playoffs. Cincinnati faced fourth-and-12 at the Baltimore 49. But then Boyd avoided CJ Mosley down the seam, gathered in Dalton’s pass, and streaked into the end zone for the winning touchdown.
When the Ravens got the ball back, a last-ditch, fourth-down pass to Ben Watson (61 yards, seven catches) came up a yard short of a first down.
The game – and the season – was over.
The outcome went against the grain of past home cold-weather performances. The Ravens had been winners in 15 of 17 home games when the kickoff temperature had been below 40 degrees. This game, which kicked off with a 19-degree reading and a wind chill factor that started at 10 degrees, soon dipped to single digits.
For a while, the Ravens’ offensive production matched the frigid temperatures.
Credit that outcome, in part, to injuries. The injury-depleted Ravens had to bring up Quincy Adeboyejo from the practice squad to gain receiver depth. But injuries alone couldn’t fully explain why Baltimore was so flat offensively. The Ravens mustered only 55 yards on their first 30 offensive plays and missed on all eight third-down conversions. For his part, Flacco missed on 13 of his first 15 passes.
The Ravens were held without a first-quarter touchdown for an eighth straight game, while the Bengals – possessors of the league’s next-to-last-ranked rushing offense – gained 127 yards on the ground and 269 total yards through the first two quarters. Cincinnati had 16 first downs to the Ravens’ two.
Opposing tight ends had hurt the Ravens all season long (72 passes caught through first 15 games) and the Bengals’ Tyler Kroft maintained that pace with 6 catches for 53 yards and two touchdowns.
Those plays ensured this game wouldn’t end like the Week 1 game — when the Bengals were shut out at home by Baltimore, 20-0.
The Ravens had a chance to tie the game early in the second quarter when Mosley forced a Mixon fumble that Weddle recovered at the Bengals’ 34. But Baltimore had to settle for Justin Tucker’s 46-yard field goal to cut the Cincinnati lead to 7-3.
Dalton (23-for-44, 222 yards, three touchdowns, sack, 89.4 rating) then found Brandon LaFell for 13 yards, and Giovani Bernard (52 yards, ten carries; 18 yards, six catches) gained 26 yards on two straight carries. Kroft gathered in a 20-yard catch to the 10 and, then, capped off the drive with a five-yard scoring catch for an 11-point lead.
LaFell would later haul in a 21-yard catch to midfield before Boyd’s reception set the Bengals up at the Ravens’ 15. Randy Bullock’s 32-yard field goal pushed the advantage to 17-3.
That’s when backup receiver Chris Moore made yet another clutch special-teams play, He ran back the ensuing kickoff 90 yards to the Bengals’ 6. On the very next play, Moore caught a bullet from Flacco in the end zone to bring the totally-outclassed Ravens to within seven points at the half.
While all of this was taking place in Baltimore, the Bills and Titans were winning their games. And at day’s end, both teams won and Baltimore’s added another line to its recent, barren resume when it comes to postseason football.
It just goes to show that Comisky was right. There are no guarantees, even when you’re playing at home with everything on the line.
**************************
UPDATED AFC PLAYOFF STANDINGS
Here’s how the AFC playoff race turned out. Teams are listed by current seed, team, overall record, division record and conference record.
DIVISION LEADERS
1. azy-New England, 13-3, 5-1, 10-2
2. zy-Pittsburgh, 13-3, 6-0, 10-2
3. y-Jacksonville, 10-6, 4-2, 9-3
4. y-Kansas City, 10-6, 5-1, 8-4
WILD-CARD SPOTS
5. x-Tennessee, 9-7, 5-1, 8-4
6. x-Buffalo, 9-7, 3-3, 7-5
OUTSIDE LOOKING IN: None
LIVE: None
ELIMINATED: Baltimore, Los Angeles Chargers, Oakland, Miami, Cincinnati, Denver, New York Jets, Houston, Indianapolis, Cleveland
a – clinched home-field advantage
z – clinched first-round bye
y – clinched division title
x – clinched playoff berth
