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The scene looked like something ripped out of a season finale. In the corner of the Ravens’ quickly emptying locker room late Sunday afternoon was quarterback Lamar Jackson, his pads off, his eyes fixed ahead. Next to him, one spot over, was coach John Harbaugh. They sat together in quiet conversation, processing one ending, contemplating another new beginning.

After a 27-22 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Ravens’ season isn’t over. But the end has never seemed so close, nor their revival hopes so bleak.

The Ravens (6-7) arrived at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday needing a win to assert control over the AFC North. They left with gripes about the officiating, a secondary ripped apart by a 42-year-old quarterback, one good half of offense and an uphill climb over their season’s final month. The Ravens’ odds of making the playoffs fell Sunday from about 64% to 31%, according to The New York Times’ playoff simulator, an outlook made all the more stark by a looming gauntlet.

“Four games left,” Harbaugh had said minutes before huddling with his star quarterback. “The season is not over. Fighting for the AFC North for the next four games, that’s where we stand.”

It is not stable ground. The Ravens’ season is wobbling. And a pratfall seems far more likely than a Super Bowl.

What have the Ravens done to convince anyone otherwise? The Cincinnati Bengals were supposed to have a get-right defense in Week 13. The Ravens’ offense, in a 32-14 loss, did not get right. The Steelers (7-6) were supposed to have a get-right offense in Week 14. The Ravens’ defense, in allowing five scores on Pittsburgh’s first six possessions (excluding a kneel-down), did not get right.

That leaves the Ravens needing to fix their offense, defense and special teams, all in various states of disrepair, in time for this season-defining stretch. It is easy to imagine the Ravens winning three or four games and finding a backdoor to a third straight AFC North title; they do still have Jackson and Derrick Henry and Roquan Smith and Kyle Hamilton, after all.

But it’s even easier to imagine the bottom falling out. The Ravens couldn’t shut down Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow in Baltimore when he had star wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase available. How will they fare any better next Sunday if wide receiver Tee Higgins is also healthy? Steelers wide receiver DK Metcalf (seven catches for a season-high 148 yards) made a compelling case for one deep shot after another against this once-vaunted Ravens secondary.

The Ravens were held to 73 yards rushing (3.8 per carry) in the first half by a Steelers defense missing starting lineman Derrick Harmon and reeling from the Buffalo Bills’ bulldozing ground game the week before. If running back Keaton Mitchell, a second-half spark, is sidelined and the Ravens’ run blocking remains inconsistent, how will they fare any better against the New England Patriots’ stout run defense in Week 16?

The Ravens couldn’t keep Aaron Rodgers, one of the NFL’s least efficient quarterbacks over the past month, from setting a season high in passing yards by the third quarter Sunday. How will they fare any better against the Patriots’ Drake Maye, the front-runner for NFL Most Valuable Player honors, or the Green Bay Packers’ Jordan Love, one of the league’s most efficient passers, in Week 17?

An official signals that the Ravens have the ball in the fourth quarter after Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers had his pass deflected back to him and then stripped by linebacker Teddye Buchanan. After review, the call was overturned and the Steelers kept the ball. (Jerry Jackson/The Banner)

The Ravens couldn’t take care of the small things they needed to against Pittsburgh, even after a mini bye. How will they fare any better away from Baltimore, at the Steelers’ Acrisure Stadium, in a potential win-or-go-home game in Week 18?

Jackson, surrounded by reporters in the locker room for his postgame news conference, said his frustration level was “through the roof.”

“I feel like the Thanksgiving game [against Cincinnati], we shouldn’t have lost that game,” he added. “It was turnovers, unfortunately. But this one here, I don’t know what happened.”

Some of the Ravens’ misfortune this season has been out of their hands: a season-ending injury to All-Pro defensive lineman Nnamdi Madubuike, a hamstring injury to Jackson, a string of other ailments, a brutal early-season schedule.

And on Sunday, for a second straight week, the Ravens got no home cooking. In their loss to Cincinnati, wide receiver Zay Flowers had a second-quarter touchdown disallowed because of a controversial offensive-pass-interference penalty.

In the loss to Pittsburgh, it was tight end Isaiah Likely robbed of a score. His 12-yard touchdown catch with three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, which would’ve given the Ravens a 28-27 lead pending their point-after-touchdown execution, was reversed after a review.

NFL Vice President of Instant Replay Mark Butterworth told a pool reporter after the game that Likely, in having the ball punched out by cornerback Joey Porter Jr. as he completed his third step with possession, did not satisfy one crucial requirement for a catch: an “act common to the game.”

“For this play, it would be him completing the third step,” Butterworth said.

But no one stops the Ravens from scoring more than themselves. Two plays after Likely’s would-be touchdown, the offense had a third-and-2 at Pittsburgh’s 5-yard line. The presnap operation, Harbaugh said, was “really chaotic,” a whir of players pointing and motioning. The Ravens were ultimately penalized for illegal formation; Steelers outside linebacker Alex Highsmith dropped Henry for a 3-yard loss anyway. The flag was declined.

On the ensuing fourth-and-5, Jackson couldn’t connect with tight end Mark Andrews. On the Ravens’ final possession, starting at their 26-yard line with 116 seconds and one timeout remaining, they again needed a touchdown. They barely got into field goal range. Highsmith ended the game with a sack, the one outcome Jackson couldn’t afford with time still on the clock.

“Obviously, talent only gets you so far in life and in football in general,” Smith said. “So it’s about playing, doing your one-eleventh, and [if] 10 are doing their job and one isn’t — hey, it’s not good enough. So it’s about honing in on the details, each and every individual, including myself, play in and play out. And, yes, it’s the NFL, people are going to make plays, but it’s about responding. How are you going to respond?”

Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers catches a pass in the first quarter. (Jerry Jackson/The Banner)

That’s the question that will define this Ravens season. Smith had asked teammates in the week of practice leading up to Sunday’s game what they were willing to give up to control their own destiny. He wanted them to consider legacy — their own and this season’s. He didn’t care whether he got a reaction from his speech. He wanted results.

“It’s not about just looking for a ‘hoorah!’ or anything like that,” Smith said Wednesday. “It is more of the truth, and you show me how you play the game. I think that’s plain and simple.”

The Ravens, time and again this season, have shown who they are. The Ravens, time and again Sunday, offered bitter reminders of that flawed identity.

They trailed by 14 points in the second quarter and 11 in the fourth quarter. They missed an extra point, committed untimely penalties (five for 39 yards), struggled to rush the passer (no sacks), swerved off course in the red zone (two touchdowns in six trips) and sent a crowd of 70,000-plus home with a loss for the fifth time in eight home games.

Maybe the Ravens will change for the better. Maybe Jackson and Harbaugh see a path forward. There is still time.

Or maybe their season’s just taken a turn for the worse.