Prior to their week eight matchup against the Denver Broncos, the Baltimore Ravens were riding a three-game losing streak.

That sent them from undefeated and alone in first place in the AFC North to third with only the lowly Browns trailing.

With the Steelers and Bengals having the week off, the Ravens stood at 1.5 games back of both. A loss to the Broncos would have put the Ravens two games back with nine to play.

Their season would be far from over had they lost to the Broncos, but would the team mentally have been able to come back from a four-game losing streak? That is a question that will never have to be answered.

From the opening kickoff, the Ravens were obviously the better team. All the talk about the undefeated Broncos had a big bucket of water thrown on it.

Offense, defense, special teams, and even coaching were better.

I said it before the season, and I will say it again in the middle: The AFC North is going to have three teams in the playoffs this year.

The only question is, in what order will they be seeded?