Ravens, Bucs, and Lions all failed in unique ways. What comes next?

Editor's note: This feature was published Tuesday before the Ravens fired head coach John Harbaugh and the Lions parted with offensive coordinator John Morton.

For a number of NFL teams, the regular season that ended this past weekend would have felt very much like the aftermath of a New Year's party: exhaustion and confusion. Several clubs have plenty of regrets, too.

Consider, for example, the Baltimore Ravens. They began the season as one of three AFC favorites, along with Kansas City and Buffalo. They were also considered the clear class of the AFC North, especially after Joe Burrow was lost to injury in Cincinnati.

Even after a brutal opening schedule and a Lamar Jackson injury left them at 1-5, they were still the Vegas favorites to win the division. After all, they only had to overtake a Steelers team piloted by a creaky Aaron Rodgers, the Burrow-less Bengals, and the usual comedy of errors taking place in Cleveland.

And they almost did it. Sunday night's epic loss to Pittsburgh in a winner-take-all game was a microcosm of their season: moments of brilliance from Derrick Henry and Jackson, but also bizarre barren patches from the offense and far too many defensive mistakes. They gave up more passing yards to Rodgers (294) than he had managed in any game this year, even though he was missing DK Metcalf, his only established wideout. The death blow came with a missed kick from rookie Tyler Loop as time expired.

No team faces tougher offseason questions than Baltimore. As the fourth quarter began Sunday, Jackson had completed just five passes, three of them on the game's opening touchdown drive. At that moment, they were a reasonable blow-it-up candidate. New coach, new quarterback, fresh start.

But then Jackson pulled off two quick-strike touchdown drives, and had it not been for the would-be winning field goal drifting wide right, the Ravens would have been a scary playoff team. Is that enough to convince them to run it back? With a healthy Jackson, they'll likely be the AFC North favorites again next fall. But then again, look where that got them in 2025.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were the anti-Ravens this season.

Like Baltimore, they were the preseason class of their division, but they got off to a strong start, compiling a 6-2 record. Then they fell apart for reasons that don't entirely make sense.

There were injuries, yes, but some of those players returned over the season's final weeks, and the Bucs were still losing crucial games to bad divisional rivals.

Baker Mayfield, a first-half MVP candidate who lost his late-game magic down the stretch, will be back, but can the Bucs really enter another season relying on the oft-injured Mike Evans and Chris Godwin at receiver? For that matter, what happened to rookie wideout Emeka Egbuka, who averaged more than 75 yards over his first nine games but fewer than 33 yards over his final eight?

On the one hand, the Buccaneers finished with at least a share of the division lead in each of the last four seasons with Todd Bowles as head coach. On the other hand, that division is the NFC South, the NFL's kids' table.

Tampa Bay has been a perfectly mediocre 35-33 during the Bowles era, and a playoff miss should be all that ownership needs to decide to move on.

One team that must look over at the NFC South with envy is the Detroit Lions, who finished 9-8, but were last in the stacked NFC North. Still, that was a massive collapse from their 15-2 record in 2024 and leaves them also facing some difficult offseason questions.

Head coach Dan Campbell is not among the uncertainties. He's still the guy who has delivered four straight winning seasons, something that has only happened in Detroit twice since the invention of the Super Bowl. The offensive nucleus with Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Jahmyr Gibbs is still dangerous, as evidenced by the four-game stretch in the fall in which the Lions averaged more than 40 points.

But as offensive line injuries piled up, something was clearly off. Campbell took over play-calling duties from offensive coordinator John Morton, and it didn't help appearances that the guy Morton replaced, Ben Johnson, was busy turning the Bears into a dynamic offense in Chicago. The Bears! Really!

Campbell said he wants to take some time to consider changes to his staff, but it's hard to imagine that he won't eventually make some. The defense under first-year coordinator Kelvin Sheppard was in the bottom half of the league in points and yards allowed per game, but at least the guy he replaced, Aaron Glenn, was off turning the New York Jets into a historically inept defense.

The Lions' biggest problem, in terms of a potential bounce-back season, is simply one of geography. That division is loaded. The Bears are good now, the Green Bay Packers are a perennial playoff team, and the Minnesota Vikings, after several quarterback-related disasters, showed signs of life in the season's final weeks. They should be better next season with J.J. McCarthy settled in. That doesn't leave a lot of easy wins on the schedule for Detroit.

Which raises an even tougher question for the Lions: Did they already miss their chance?

Scott Stinson is a contributing writer for theScore.