History shows a 1-5 team can rebound and make the playoffs, but Ravens have little room for error

OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) — The Baltimore Ravens are hoping they'll be a completely different team after their bye week break — with Lamar Jackson back at quarterback and both sides of the ball looking more like they expected at the beginning of the season.

The question is whether it's already too late.

“If I didn’t think we had the talent, the ability, the work ethic or the care factor from everybody in the building, then I wouldn’t be as optimistic as I am,” coach John Harbaugh said. “I’m not trying to stand up here and feed anybody any baloney or say things that aren’t true or talk out of both sides of my mouth.

“I’m trying to be as honest and straightforward as I can about where we’re at and what we need to do.”

A slew of injuries, combined with a tough early schedule, has left the Ravens with a 1-5 record that would have seemed unfathomable a couple months ago. The bye week they're currently on is quite welcome after Jackson missed the last two games because of a hamstring injury, but Baltimore can't go back and undo what's already happened this season. All the Ravens can focus on is trying to beat Chicago on Oct. 26 — and then hope that's the start of a resurgence. Only four teams since the merger have started 1-5 and still made the playoffs.

For a sense of how challenging it will be for Baltimore, here's a look at those four teams:

— 1970 Cincinnati Bengals. They actually started 1-6 before going unbeaten the rest of the way and finishing at 8-6. It really was a spectacular turnaround, with five of Cincinnati's final seven wins coming by double digits, and it was enough to win the AFC Central, which had nobody else above .500.

— 2015 Kansas City Chiefs. After a 1-5 start, the Chiefs went 10-0 the rest of the way and earned a wild-card spot. They actually clinched a playoff berth with a game to spare.

— 2018 Indianapolis Colts. Indy went 9-1 after its poor start and also ended up with a wild card. The Colts beat Tennessee in the regular-season finale, which determined the AFC's final playoff spot.

— 2020 Washington Football Team. Washington only needed to go 6-4 after its 1-5 start, because 7-9 was good enough to win the NFC East that year.

So the teams that have pulled this off have either gone on incredible runs themselves or benefited from weak divisions — or both. The Ravens can derive hope from either of those paths. Their schedule eases up, with games against Miami, Cleveland, the Jets and Cincinnati (twice) in the first eight weeks after the bye. As for their division, Pittsburgh was 4-1 entering Thursday night's game against Cincinnati, but the other two AFC North teams are under .500 with Baltimore.

Working in Baltimore's favor is the fact there's one more wild-card spot than was available in 2018. Also, the regular season is 17 games now. The four teams above had 16 games or fewer when trying to salvage their seasons after starting 1-5.

“We have a lot of season ahead of us — 11 games — so we know the type of team we have, and we know what we can do in 11 games,” linebacker Teddye Buchanan said. "We’re just going to keep working and looking forward to the Bears.”

In some ways, that matchup with Chicago could be make or break for Baltimore. Even as the Ravens become healthier, there are certain problems — such as a season-ending injury to defensive lineman Nnamdi Madubuike — that will be harder to solve. The trade deadline is Nov. 4 and Baltimore could really use some help for its pass rush and defensive front in general. But if Jackson returns and the Ravens still lose to the Bears to fall to 1-6, it might be hard to justify dealing assets for a quick fix this year. In fact, Baltimore might be tempted to start making some tough offseason decisions early, which the team already sort of did when it dealt edge rusher Odafe Oweh to the Chargers for secondary help.

A win over Chicago, however, would brighten the mood — and the schedule after that certainly lends itself to the type of winning streak that would change the calculus.

If Jackson is back and healthy, that alone is enough reason for hope.

“I’m leaning really hard into that,” Harbaugh said. “Really hard.”

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL