Baltimore Ravens

Super Bowl LI: Revisiting The Baltimore Ravens' Last Championship

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 8:10 p.m. ET

Fansided, Joe Schiller/FanSided via Ebony Bird

As Super Bowl LI approaches, I take a look at the Baltimore Raven’s last Super Bowl win in 2013

The Baltimore Ravens have struggled in the past two seasons, but it was not too long ago that they were playing for a Super Bowl. As Super Bowl LI approaches, I take a look at the last time the Ravens were in the big game.

During the regular season, the Ravens were really not impressive. The offense struggled to the point where offensive coordinator Cam Cameron was fired. Jim Caldwell was promoted to take over the reigns. The Ravens finished the season with a record of 10-6, which was good enough to win the division. Because of this, they earned a home game in the wild-card round.

There were not high expectations going in to the playoffs. The Ravens had dropped 3 of their last 4 during the regular season and were not looking up to form. Luckily, the playoffs were a fresh start and the Ravens took advantage of that.

The Path To The Super Bowl

AFC Wildcard Round 

Before the first game, franchise linebacker Ray Lewis announced that it would be his final season. After spending 17 seasons with the Ravens, he was finally calling it quits. The wildcard game was hosted in Baltimore against the Indianapolis Colts. The Ravens played a dominate game and shut down a young Andrew Luck and company. They won the game 24-9.

AFC Divisional Round 

During the playoff run, this had to be the best game by far. In my opinion, this is one of the best playoff games ever. The Ravens traveled into Denver against the #1 seed Broncos and were the clear under-dogs. This game marked the “Mile-High Miracle” when Joe Flacco threw a bomb to Jacoby Jones for a touchdown with 41 seconds to tie the score. The game went into 2OT before rookie kicker Justin Tucker nailed a field goal to win the game. After this game, it was clear that there was destiny in the air

AFC Championship Game 

A rematch, revenge, payback. The Ravens were looking for all of these after a losing to the Patriots in the AFC championship the year before. A Billy Cundiff shank broke the hearts of many and sent the Patriots to the Super Bowl.

This time it was a different story. The Ravens absolutely dominated the Patriots, winning the game 28-13. Joe Flacco and Anquan Boldin connected for two touchdowns and sent Tom Brady and Bill Belichick packing. The Ravens were now of their way to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2000. Even better, head coach John Harbaugh would be facing his younger brother Jim Harbaugh and the San Francisco 49ers.

Super Bowl XLVII

The Harbowl, a match-up between two brothers. Ray Lewis’ last game. Who would their parents root for? Is Joe Flacco Elite? There were plenty of headlines that flooded the media during Super Bowl week.

It seemed like there was no way that this game would live up to the AFC divisional and championship rounds, but it did.

The Ravens took a 24-6 lead at half-time and things seemed to be over, but it was just beginning to get interesting. During the 3rd quarter, the power in the SuperDome went out and suspended the game for over 30 minutes. It was one of the weirdest things I have ever seen. The outage completely took away the Raven’s momentum. To this day we are not sure if Jim Harbaugh called for the plug to be pulled, but I have my suspicions..

Once play was resumed, the 49ers made a comeback, coming to within five points of the Ravens in the 4th quarter. It came down to a goal-line stand where the Ravens defense was able to force a turnover on downs for the win. On the last play of the goal-line stand, Colin Kaepernick threw a pass to Michael Crabtree in the end-zone, but the pass was incomplete. There was controversy over the play because it looked like corner-back Jimmy Smith held Crabtree. No penalty was called and the Ravens went on to win the game.

It was the perfect ending to the Cinderella story for the Baltimore Ravens. Quarterback Joe Flacco put together one of the best runs in playoff history, throwing for 11 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. Ray Lewis got his second ring and there was no doubt that destiny played a role.