It is not unusual for the playoff fortunes of an NFL team to depend on a Week 17 game in another time zone, but the Ravens may have even more than that riding on Sunday's matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Diego Chargers.
Think about it. The Ravens are a heavy favorite to defeat the Cleveland Browns on Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium, which would improve their record to a very respectable 10-6. The case might even be made that a 10-win season would be an impressive feat regardless of the postseason implications, considering all of the issues and obstacles they have faced this year.
Just not in the what-have-you-done-for-me-in-January world of the National Football League.
Of course, the Ravens have to take care of their own business for anything else to make any difference, but it likely will be the performance of the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium that will determine how the 2014 season will be perceived by the fan base and the Ravens' resident fan-in-chief — owner Steve Bisciotti.
If the Chiefs lose, the Ravens will miss the playoffs for the second season in a row, and it's hard not to remember the harsh ownership reaction when last year's post-championship letdown marred John Harbaugh's perfect record of postseason participation.
Who knows how that would play going into the offseason, but it shouldn't really change anything. The Ravens released their star running back in early September and lost tight end Dennis Pitta soon thereafter. They also lost top young cornerback Jimmy Smith and would play much of the year with a decimated defensive secondary.
Against that backdrop, who possibly could complain about a seventh straight season in which the Ravens are in playoff contention when they take the field for their final regular season game?
The answer might surprise you.
"The bottom line is, the longer you've been around the league and the longer you realize what an offseason feels like when you didn't win the whole thing, it's tough to consider it a real successful season unless you win the Super Bowl," quarterback Joe Flacco said. "That's just what it's viewed as these days. That's kind of the mindset that we take, and what we work toward from the very beginning of offseason workouts."
Flacco, in the wake of one of his most disappointing performances of his pro career, was in no mood for excuses when he met with the media after practice Tuesday. The bar has been set very high during his tenure as one of the league's most successful quarterbacks, and he's not interested in deriving consolation from a double-digit win total.
The Ravens may have lost their inside track to the postseason and they may be without a lot of key players, but Flacco insists they have not lost the belief that they can still compete for the ultimate prize if things work out in their favor this weekend.
"We believe we have the team to win it,'' he said. "We're going to go play and hope to continue to move on. ... We definitely have the ability to play good and make a run and do anything we want to. Obviously, it's not all left up to us. But we do have that ability. We do have that team. Hopefully, we take care of it on our side and see what happens."
The Ravens obviously are not everybody's postseason pick to click, not after the way they let the San Diego Chargers escape from Baltimore with that huge comeback victory on Nov. 30 and not after their tepid performance against the Jacksonville Jaguars or Sunday's ugly loss in Houston. They have been too inconsistent and currently appear to be too banged up to be considered a strong candidate to go deep into the playoffs.
Maybe the Chiefs will help deliver them into the wild-card mix and they will disprove their doubters, but it's very possible they'll have to settle for the nice warm feeling that comes with winning the last game of the regular season. The Browns are, after all, the Browns.
"Obviously, a 10-6 record isn't a bad record,'' said right guard Marshal Yanda, "but if we don't get in the playoffs, it's not good enough. So, getting to the playoffs is what matters ultimately. We have to win."
Read more from columnist Peter Schmuck on his blog, "The Schmuck Stops Here" at baltimoresun.com/schmuckblog.