Ravens' John Harbaugh: Lamar Jackson's Status for Week 18 vs. Steelers Uncertain

The Baltimore Ravens clinched the top seed in the AFC playoffs with Sunday's win over the Miami Dolphins, making the regular season finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers essentially meaningless for the Ravens.

That has called into question whether superstar quarterback Lamar Jackson will play.

"We've got to kind of work through the injury part of it first," head coach John Harbaugh told reporters Monday. "That'll take us probably 24 to 48 hours to get a real handle on that and then we'll make those decisions. We're not going to keep it a secret. We'll let you know what we're going to do once we start practicing [on Wednesday]."

Jackson, 26, emerged as the MVP frontrunner after torching the Dolphins to the tune of 321 yards and five touchdowns through the air in the 56-19 blowout win. He now has thrown for 3,678 yards, 24 touchdowns and seven touchdowns, completing 67.2 percent of his passes, while adding 821 rushing yards and five scores on the ground for the 13-3 Ravens.

Few teams are as reliant on a single player as Baltimore's offense is on the unique skill set of Jackson, so keeping him healthy for the postseason is key.

But there's a balance to be struck. Sitting him both next week and during the Wild Card Round, when the Ravens have a bye, risks the possibility of Jackson getting rusty and the offense bogging down in the process. Baltimore's first playoff game won't be until either Jan. 20 or 21 in the Divisional Round, a lengthy layoff.

As ESPN's Jamison Hensley noted, the last time the Ravens faced a similar situation, in 2019, they sat Jackson and several other starters and were upset by the Tennessee Titans in the Divisional Round, 28-12.

Harbaugh didn't see the point in comparing the two situations, however.

"It's a different team, different circumstances, different everything except for the record was about the same and the bye," he told reporters. "I remember the experience and the choices we made [in 2019], but the decisions we made, we made for certain reasons. We thought they were the right decisions. What impacted how in terms of us not playing our best football that day, it's really hard to say what the cause and effect was."

The Steelers would be happy for the Ravens to sit Jackson and other starters. Pittsburgh (9-7) needs to win and needs some help to get into the playoffs. It's hard to imagine the Ravens will be interested in helping their bitter rivals reach the postseason, though heading into the playoffs as healthy as possible may trump spoiling the Steelers' season.