After nine weeks of football the Ravens sit at 4-4, third in the AFC North. Their loss this week to the Cincinnati Bengals was devastating and I believe it ended their playoff chances.

Ignoring how the Ravens played this game, they are now two games behind the Steelers for 2nd in the North and just 1-2 in the division without even facing the Steelers.

Baltimore’s remaining schedule doesn’t get any easier either.

Week 10: at Cleveland
Week 11: vs Indianapolis
Week 12: vs. Pittsburgh
Week 13: at Green Bay
Week 14: vs. Detroit
Week 15: vs. Chicago
Week 16: at Pittsburgh
Week 17:
at Oakland

Typically, 10 wins gets you into the playoffs. I don’t see it happening with this schedule.

Even if Baltimore had a cream-puff-Indianapolis-like schedule for the next eight weeks, they don’t have the squad to go deep into January.

Their weakness lies in their secondary, the d-line isn’t strong enough to compensate for that flaw. The offense gets crushed in time of possession while trying to make up for the deficit the defense has left and their special teams is too middle of the road.

The Ravens have a long road ahead of them and I don’t see it going well. I guess that’s why they play the games tough.