Opinion: With win over Browns, Lamar Jackson and the Ravens have nothing left to prove in 2019

CLEVELAND — All season long, the Baltimore Ravens have talked in one-game-at-a-time cliches while clearly chasing the next milestone — a playoff berth, an AFC North title, a first-round bye and, at last, their first No. 1 seed in franchise history.

And after Sunday's 31-15 win over the Cleveland Browns, players still talked about the importance of winning their next game, against the Pittsburgh Steelers at home next weekend. But this time, those words rang hollow. The Ravens have played so well for so long that they now have nothing to gain in Week 17. And by surging past the Browns, who were the last team to beat them 12 weeks ago, Lamar Jackson and company also have nothing left to prove in 2019.

"We have a great thing going right now," the 22-year-old MVP front-runner said. "We just have to keep it going."

It's been a remarkable run for Baltimore over the past few months, a stretch that dates back to a loss against Cleveland on Sept. 29.

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Over a span of 12 weeks, the Ravens have won both blowouts and close games, high-scoring shootouts and grind-it-out sloppers. They've beaten five teams that had secured playoff berths as of Sunday, and helped knock out a few others — including Cleveland. They've won more games in a row than any team since the 2016 Dallas Cowboys, who also won 11 straight. (To put it in a non-football context, the Ravens' winning streak has even outlasted a Congressional impeachment process.)

Those wins, and the multitude of ways in which Baltimore has won, prompted Browns wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. to dub the Ravens "probably the best team in the NFL" after Sunday's game. Ravens coach John Harbaugh conceded that they've had "probably the best regular season in the National Football League this year, by any team."

"It's something that I'm sure we will always take pride in," Harbaugh said. "It's something to look back on at some point, but right now we're looking forward."

The Ravens will be in uncharted waters as a No. 1 playoff seed, and they're in an unfamiliar place now that their Week 17 matchup against division rival Pittsburgh has, on their side, been rendered meaningless. They won't play a high-stakes game again until the second weekend in January.

"It’s certainly a great place to be, and we all appreciate that," kicker Justin Tucker told USA TODAY Sports. "We also know, no matter which way you spin it, it’s important to come out and play good football. So yeah, we might have home-field advantage, a first-round bye, all that stuff. And that’s incredibly exciting. We’ve worked really hard to be in a position that we are in currently, but none of that matters if we don’t go out there and play great football, which we expect to do."

Harbaugh said he wasn't sure yet whether Jackson and Baltimore's other starters will play next week. He said he planned to meet with players on the team's leadership council on Monday and solicit their thoughts before making a decision. (Jackson predictably said he wants to play, while acknowledging that "it's coach's decision.")

Ultimately, the safe bet is that Jackson — and veterans like Mark Ingram, Earl Thomas, Marshal Yanda and the like — will sit out next week's game, which would give them three weeks to rest and recover before hosting the lower-seeded wild-card winner. 

Yanda, a Pro Bowl offensive lineman, said the Ravens can only benefit from rest, especially in the week leading up to their divisional playoff game. 

"We are a heavy running team, so (we play) physical games every Sunday," Yanda said. "That week of rest is going to be huge. ... (And) we don't have to travel. We don't have to get on an airplane. We are right in our backyard."

The Ravens have already cemented their regular-season legacy in 2019. They had 12 players named to this year's Pro Bowl. Jackson, the only quarterback in NFL history to eclipse 3,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards in the same season, is likely to be named this year's MVP. Harbaugh will be a candidate for coach of the year.

Now, the only question is whether they can keep it going when the calendar turns to 2020, and transform regular-season success into a Super Bowl run.

"Focus is the No. 1 word," Yanda said. "Everybody needs to make sure that for the next month of your life, football is No. 1. ... No distractions. Let's lock in and do what we do."

Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.