The Baltimore Ravens improved to 8-4 on the season. There was a closed casket. They are survived by the AFC North competitors (who are all looking up at them in the standings). In lieu of flowers, please consider a deposit for playoff tickets.

That’s about how we feel, right?

It’s a really weird feeling in Baltimore right now. I ended up yelling on our postgame show over on 105.7 The Fan. I feel bad about that. I know a lot of people find it entertaining. But not everyone does and I didn’t need to do that. A caller suggested that John Harbaugh needed to be “held accountable.” You know, the timeless move in which an NFL team that has won twice as many games as they’ve lost decides they need to get rid of their successful, respected head coach ahead of a big divisional matchup.

I was flabbergasted. I couldn’t hide it. But there’s some irony in my response. I’m guessing that when the caller is caught up in the emotion of the immediate aftermath of a football game and I’m not caught up in dealing with folks in the emotion of the immediate aftermath of a football game, we probably agree on a lot of things.

More than anything, we probably agree on the frustrating place where the Ravens find themselves at the moment. They’re 8-4. They’re in first place. Their season was saved when Harbaugh announced Lamar Jackson’s knee injury would not be season-ending. At least saved for now, anyway. And yet, we’ve all seen the same things. The Ravens have been a significantly worse team coming out of the bye than the team we saw for the two weeks going into it.

Playing without Ronnie Stanley (who had returned to his All-Pro level) is significant. At some point their complete and total lack of a wide receiver threat was going to have to catch up to them. But the defense’s ascending level of play should have been able to offset that at least a bit.

Now to be clear, it’s completely insane to suggest that Harbaugh should be canned when he’s 8-4. A number of you “feel a way” about the coach at this point (or have for some time). I’m not sure what to tell you. There is the cherry-picked statistic passed around about one playoff win in eight seasons. It’s true. It is devoid of context and is usually suggested by someone who is just “stating facts,” but it IS true.

And what the caller and others are experiencing is a feeling of inevitability that the Ravens won’t record any playoff wins this season. I understand the feeling. With Jackson’s status up in the air (as well as Stanley’s return), the Bengals recording a tremendous win against the Chiefs and the overall limitations of the offense, it really does feel like the Ravens are unlikely to make any sort of run against the best teams in the AFC.

The first thing we have to say in response is, “We have to allow the season to play out.” While it doesn’t feel good at the moment, the Ravens should still get healthier. They can still find the rhythm they had in the Buccaneers and Saints games before the bye. I’m not betting on it, but lots can change in the span of a few weeks. If Tyler Huntley and the defense can keep them afloat, they’ll have a chance.

Side note: A league source I spoke to Sunday told me that talks between the Ravens and Odell Beckham Jr. are “definitely not dead.” I still wouldn’t bet on him ending up in purple, but we’ll have to keep monitoring his upcoming world tour.

And there’s still more going on here. The Greg Roman situation is extraordinarily weird. Let’s just say that hypothetically the Ravens would be willing to consider firing their coordinator in the middle of the season. I have no reason to assume that, but let’s have some fun. The run game (specifically through the running backs) has been a mess the last couple of weeks. That’s the singular reason he’s here. Maybe they do get frustrated by it all. But are they firing a coach who is in the midst of trying to get a head coaching job at Stanford? Do they do it if Stanford hires someone else?

If Roman takes the Stanford job, do they want an inexperienced play-caller calling plays in the biggest games of the season? Do they encourage Roman to go ahead and get settled in Palo Alto or do they want him to stick around? If Roman doesn’t get the Stanford job, it seems logical that should the season end without postseason success again, they’d probably need to move on.

If the Ravens move on from Roman, does their organizational philosophy change? Do they reconsider their shameful handling of the wide receiver position? Is one personality within the building the most significant when it comes to such decision-making? If Harbaugh personally is the one demanding the Ravens devalue receivers, I might call into that caller’s show to tell him the man should be fired!

The point being that if things don’t turn around in the coming weeks, there will need to be a bit of a reckoning for the philosophy of the organization. Steve Bisciotti will need to review how the Ravens operate and build moving forward. It will remain absurd to assume Harbaugh is more “problem” than “solution,” but perhaps he’s not interested in reconsidering organizational philosophy.

Pretending that the Ravens are drastically far away because they specifically haven’t won a Super Bowl (and appear unlikely to do so again) is self-serving. But that doesn’t mean the status quo must remain, either.

And again, we have to let it all play out first. As unappealing as it seems at the moment, we’ve got to see how these games play out.

Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox

Glenn Clark

See all posts by Glenn Clark. Follow Glenn Clark on Twitter at @glennclarkradio