When the teenage/1970s version of Homer Simpson traveled to the future, which for us is the present (actually, to be accurate, it’s already the recent past), he was in pure awe of the very existence of Thursday Night Football.
Many Baltimore Ravens fans, as well as neutrals for that matter, probably matched the excitement and wonder of high school-aged Homer while watching this week’s edition of Thursday Night Football.
The Cleveland Browns’ 24-19 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers was an actual “snow globe” game, and that alone made it enjoyable to watch. Within this winter wonderland, you saw an extremely entertaining game that kept going back and forth during crunch time.
The fantastic finish on the snow-showered shores of Lake Erie left the Ravens just one game behind the Steelers for the division lead, with seven left to play. Plus, any time you see the division leaders drop a game to the last-place side, it’s a tremendous boon to all the other teams chasing them.
After the Brownies upset the Steelers in the Snow Bowl, the ESPN Analytics app updated its postseason predictor the following day. According to their projections, the Ravens have a 45% chance of winning the AFC North.
In other words, we have a division title race again! The model also gives Baltimore a 97% chance of making the postseason but only a 1% chance of earning a bye.
They do give the Ravens an 18% chance of reaching the Super Bowl, which is encouraging. As Brian in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy famously said, “60% of the time, it works every time.”
In all seriousness, though, the Ravens’ game against the Steelers on Sunday, December 21, could very well be the de facto AFC North division title game.
