BALTIMORE -- The "P-word" has to be officially banned from the Baltimore Ravens' facility unless it's used to refer to painful, problematic or pitiful.
A week after the Baltimore players talked about making an unprecedented run to the playoffs, the Ravens lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars 22-20 at home, in November and after a bye. These are the same Jaguars who hadn't won on the road since December 2013, an NFL-worst streak of 13 losses in a row. This isn't exactly what the Ravens were talking about when they said they wanted to make history.
The Ravens have been able to chalk up the disappointing season to bad luck. Baltimore is the first team in NFL history to start a season with nine straight games decided by eight points or fewer, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
Now, let's be honest, the Ravens are simply bad. Baltimore's record dropped to 2-7, and the only team with a worse mark is the Cleveland Browns, who beat the Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium this season. Baltimore has the same record as the Detroit Lions (who have fired their general manager, president and offensive coordinator) and Tennessee Titans (who fired their head coach).
"We’re just not the type of team that’s finding ways to win right now," quarterback Joe Flacco said. "We’re not good enough to [win] football games at the end. You can look at how crazy it is no matter what. We have chances to close those games out. We’re just leaving room for stuff like this to happen. At the end of the day, we’re not good enough. It shows in your record."
Good teams don't let games continually get decided in the final minute against the worst teams in the NFL. The Ravens have lost this season to the Jaguars, Browns and San Francisco 49ers, who are a combined 5-20 (.200) against the rest of the league.
After many of Baltimore's losses, it's been a silent and stunned locker room. This time, there was more anger. Much of the attention from Sunday's loss will center on Elvis Dumervil's face-mask penalty, which allowed the Jaguars to kick the winning field goal with no time remaining. Several players thought the Jaguars didn't get the snap off in time, but replays on CBS showed one second on the clock.
“It was a ton of anger, frustration," cornerback Jimmy Smith said. "You’re not allowed to say anything about the refs, so nothing can be said. We feel like the game was ... It got taken out of my hands. At the same time, it was in our hands. We should have completed that last play and came up with a pick or finished the game off, and we didn’t do it.”
This can't be blamed on the officials or a bad break. In reality, the Ravens lost that game long before with mistakes and undisciplined play.
Baltimore turned it over a season-high four times Sunday. Flacco gave away the ball three times to start the second half, and Jeremy Ross muffed a punt in the fourth quarter.
The Ravens were penalized for a season-worst 121 yards. Safeties Kendrick Lewis and Will Hill as well as cornerback Asa Jackson were flagged for unnecessary roughness.
"We worked hard in the last two weeks to become a better football team than we were," coach John Harbaugh said. "We’re going to watch the tape; we’re going to see a lot of that. But, we turned the ball over too much, and we didn’t finish the game. Really, at the end, that’s what it boils down to.”
This isn't the team the Ravens had envisioned this season. Injuries have decimated Baltimore's playmaking ability (wide receivers Steve Smith and Breshad Perriman) and pass rush (linebacker Terrell Suggs).
And the Ravens certainly aren't the same Ravens of the previous seven seasons under Harbaugh.
Baltimore had been 6-1 after the bye. The Ravens were an NFL-best 23-10 in November. They were 46-14 in Baltimore, which was the league's third-best home record.
Not anymore. A loss to the Jaguars means it's time for the sad reality of the 2015 season to set in.
"Harbs said it the best -- there’s no words," Jackson said. "We’ve just got to learn to win."
But, as everyone has learned this season, bad teams create new ways to lose.