No matter what happens on Sunday, the Ravens improved this season from last.
They're guaranteed at least nine wins, which is better than last year's 8-8 finish. And the Ravens went through a ton of adversity to do it, including losing some of their top players to suspensions and injuries, which sent 18 players to injured reserve in total.
But quarterback Joe Flacco doesn't care about any of that. The Super Bowl XLVII MVP wants just one thing: a repeat appearance.
"I think the longer you've been around the league and the longer you realize what an offseason feels like when you didn't win the whole thing," Flacco said Tuesday.
"It's tough to consider it a real successful season unless you win the Super Bowl, because that's just what it's viewed as these days. That's kind of the mindset that we take, and that's what we work toward from the very beginning of offseason workouts, OTAs, all that."
The Ravens were in position to make the playoffs last year as well, but fumbled their opportunity down the stretch. Baltimore lost its final two games to the Patriots and Bengals, both in lopsided fashion.
Baltimore had a clunker in Houston, so a rebound performance and win against the Browns would at least show the Ravens finished stronger than last season. To many, that should be considered an accomplishment, but not to Flacco.
"I see what you're saying, but at the same time, the success we've had around here and the team that we feel like we have, I don't really think that we can think about, 'Oh, let's win the game,' so we feel good about the way we ended the season," Flacco said.
"I couldn't care less about how we end this season, other than the fact that I don't want to end it. I want to keep playing."
The Ravens would finish 10-6 if they beat the Browns Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium. That would be the same regular-season record they had in 2012 when they made their Super Bowl run.
Back in 2012, it secured the Ravens the AFC North division title. This year, a 10-6 record doesn't even guarantee a playoff spot. Baltimore also needs the Chiefs to beat the Chargers.
Flacco knows that if the Ravens get into the postseason, sometimes it takes just one game to get hot. In 2012, Baltimore won just one of its final three games, but did it in dominating fashion at home against the defending champion New York Giants.
"Listen, we've had spurts of being really good this year, but we also had … when we haven't been good, it has been drive upon drive upon drive of not being very good," Flacco said.
"Besides that, we definitely have the ability to play good and make a run and do anything we want to. Obviously, it's not all up to us, but we do have that ability; we do have that team. Hopefully, we take care of it on our side and see what happens."
