And 3 of those teams have 8 wins and leading their respective divisions. It will be tough sledding.
There are two ways you could look at this.
Negative outlook:
1: The #1 seed (and bye) could be lost in this stretch – which would most assuredly mean the road to the superbowl goes through Kansas City (their schedule is a cakewalk rest of the season). This makes it extremely difficult to advance deep in the playoffs.
OR
Positive outlook:
2: Regardless of outcome, the Ravens get a shot at playing against 4 legitimate playoff contenders and come away from the games learning more about those teams. Then use the new found recent knowledge to have a better game plan if they meet again in the playoffs. For example. I am thinking of the 2018 season when the Chargers lost late in the season to Ravens (first time seeing Lamar) but they adapted really well when they met again in the playoffs and won. Another example is the 2007 season when Giants lost to the Patriots late in the season only to come back pull off a major upset in the superbowl against that same team. The key thing is recent knowledge of the opposing team’s game plans, strengths, weaknesses. Something to watch.
I think the #1 seed is a tall order, given the difficulty of our remaining schedule and the weakness of the Chief’s remaining schedule. The most difficult game remaining on KC’s schedule is home to Buffalo. I’d love to grab the #1 seed but realistically I can live with the #2 seed. Also I don’t think KC is quite the same quality team that they’ve been over the last several years. I think we’d have a decent chance of beating them on the road (though ideally of course I’d prefer to play them at The Bank).