I will never, in my life, understand the concept of rooting in a meaningful game against the team you root for.
You know what I’m talking about. There are quite a few of you who have suggested that you would rather see the Ravens lose their winner-take-all Week 18 game for the AFC North title against the Steelers. You think a win would save John Harbaugh’s job and you believe, ultimately, that the Ravens are better off in the long haul with a new head coach than a playoff appearance.
Some of you aren’t being honest. You might really believe your explanation but when the game starts, you’ll be rooting for the Ravens because, you know, it’s Ravens-Steelers. But some of you might well be completely honest and might well actively root against the team that you otherwise root for.
I don’t get it. I mean, I get it. I do. I share your opinion that the Ravens won’t likely win the Super Bowl if they do get into the playoffs and I share your opinion that it is probably time for a coaching change. But I disagree with your process. There is so little reward to being a football fan. Your math may or may not be correct in terms of what’s at stake on Sunday night and whether it actually makes sense to root against the Ravens this week.
Perhaps a decision about Harbaugh’s future has already been made one way or the other and the result of this game has no bearing. Given the Ravens have fired exactly two coaches or general managers in three decades of franchise history, the odds of Harbaugh being fired are fairly low either way. The likelihood of any one game being the deciding factor in a hiring/firing decision is even lower. There’s also a chance that if one game determines Harbaugh’s fate, it’s a playoff game and not this one.
Then there’s a small chance that if the Ravens get in, they could make a run toward the Super Bowl. It’s wildly unlikely given their completely unknown quarterback situation and porous defense, but the AFC is quite far from intimidating. The math has to reflect the possibility. And while you clearly believe that a coaching change will lead to championship success in the immediate to short-term future, the odds of a new coach doing that are not dramatically greater than the current coach.
None of this means the Ravens should keep Harbaugh regardless of what happens Sunday night. What it means is that I don’t think the math works out to make it worthwhile to give up on the potential joy of rooting for your favorite team to beat their archrival in order to make the playoffs and eliminate them. Enjoy it. If it goes wrong, you might still get what you wanted originally.
And I’ll reiterate that I don’t think Harbaugh’s fate should be tied to the result of this specific football game. My personal opinion is that the time has come. The failure to appropriately commit to Derrick Henry in what should have been considered a must-win game against the Patriots stood out as a final straw for me in a season where the team went a staggering 3-6 at home.
There have been far too many head-scratching decisions and far too many times the team has appeared to lack discipline in critical moments in recent years. It is now my belief that change is needed.
Still, a deep playoff run could sway my opinion. No team has ever made a Super Bowl run with eight losses, but the Ravens’ record is complicated by Jackson’s bizarre season and injuries to other players. The 2011 Giants proved that a mediocre to downright bad team can still get hot and make a championship run. Others have made the Super Bowl with just nine wins.
If this team could somehow do the same given their overwhelming warts, that would be new evidence by which to judge Harbaugh. I absolutely do not believe it will happen. But that’s why it would matter significantly if it did. Short of something that remarkable, I believe the die should be cast.
The Ravens needed to take steps forward this season. Getting into the postseason thanks in part to the Steelers’ offensive ineptitude in Cleveland would not be a measurement of stepping forward. I won’t move the goalposts now.
But I also can’t imagine rooting for the team and not allowing yourself to embrace the excitement of a win-and-in game. I just think it’s antithetical to the nature of being a fan.
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