2008 Baltimore Ravens Season Is One of Adversity and Perseverance

The Baltimore Ravens' season came to an end on Sunday night. While fans of any team in this situation, Baltimore's being no exception, tend to feel overwhelmed with sadness and anger, Raven fans really have to look at it differently. After all, the season, by all logic, should not have gone this well.

The Ravens have had to deal with more adversity than probably any other team in the NFL this season. When you put everything together, it is unreal how far this team has come.

To start, we have to go back to January of 2008. Ravens head coach, Brian Billick, who had been coaching the team for nine years and won a Super Bowl in 2000, was fired. In comes John Harbaugh, a little-known assistant for the Philadelphia Eagles.

A few months later, Baltimore's starting quarterback, Steve McNair, retired due to chronic injuries. McNair had been a warrior for his entire NFL career, but his injuries proved to be too great for him.

Another retirement for the Ravens was that of offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden, who was the first ever draft pick of the organization and one of the best offensive tackles in NFL history.

In the 2008 NFL Draft, the Ravens traded down from their eighth selection and with the 18th pick, they drafted Joe Flacco, a non big-name quarterback from a non big-name school, Delaware.

Flacco was expected to be backing up either Kyle Boller or Troy Smith, but a season-ending injury to Boller and Smith's preseason illness forced Flacco into the role of  starting quarterback for Baltimore's season opener.

So let's summarize here: rookie head coach and rookie starting quarterback. The last time a team had a winning record with a first-year man at head coach and quarterback? Never.

However, the setbacks didn't end there for the Ravens. Due to Hurricane Ike in Houston, the Ravens-Texans Week Two game was moved, and the teams were given a bye week. The Week Two bye week was the earliest in NFL history, and by the time the Ravens played in the AFC Championship game, they had gone 19 weeks without a break.

Injuries are a part of the game and every team knows that. But no team has had more debilitating injuries to key players this season than Baltimore.

Starting strong safety Dawan Landry played two games before being ruled for the season with a back injury. Starting cornerback Chris McAlister was placed on injured reserve after playing six games. Marshal Yanda and Kelly Gregg, the starters at guard and nose tackle, respectively, both missed most or all of the season due to knee injuries.

In addition, top wide receiver Derrick Mason essentially played the last eight games of the season with one arm after injuring his shoulder in the Week 10 game against Houston.

However, despite all of these obstacles, Baltimore was able to secure a playoff berth by winning the last two games of their season against Dallas and Jacksonville. In the playoff, they outlasted the Miami Dolphins in the wild card and held on to beat the Tennessee Titans in the divisional round, thus making the AFC Championship Game.

At the start of the season, the chances that the Ravens would make the AFC Championship Game were listed as 40-1.

While they lost to the arch-rival Pittsburgh Steelers in the championship game, Baltimore's season should be seen as a success.  This was a team that many expected to be at .500 if they're lucky, and they ended up being one game away from the Super Bowl.

Fans of any team have a right, and are expected, to be upset when the team's season comes to an end. However, Ravens fans should truly feel happy the way that this season has, especially considering everything the team had to endure.