The Breakdown: Five Thoughts After Ravens' Loss in Cincy

The Ravens lost to the Bengals, 27-16, Sunday in Cincinnati to close out the regular season.

Baltimore will get a rematch back in Cincinnati in the Wild-Card round of the playoffs next weekend.

Here are five thoughts from the Week 18 game, which left the Ravens' record at 10-7:

The Ravens were playing this game with one arm behind their back and kept it closer than should be expected, and certainly closer than it looked it would be early on.

The Ravens gave six starters the day off, showing they cared more about getting as healthy as possible than improving their playoff seed or getting a chance at a home playoff game via a coin toss (and more). The Bengals, meanwhile, had to play their starters the distance.

Head Coach John Harbaugh made the right decision. There was not a whole lot of definite upside to playing all the starters, especially on offense, and there was a whole lot of potential downside. Ultimately, it's all about being as strong as possible for the playoffs.

On offense, that meant getting healthy. Lamar Jackson sat a fifth straight game and the Ravens gave Tyler Huntley the day off to get his shoulder feeling as good as possible in case he has to play again. Workhorses who can use a little rest, Mark Andrews, J.K. Dobbins and Kevin Zeitler, also sat.

Defensively, the Ravens took a bit of a different strategy. On that side, they played more starters, while still resting rehabbing cornerback Marcus Peters. Defensively, Baltimore had a chance to build some momentum heading into a rematch against the Bengals, and they did that with a dominant second half.

It would have taken a lot to break the right way for the Ravens to host a home playoff game against the Bengals. Harbaugh instead decided to prepare his team in Week 18 the best he could for the following week. He explained it succinctly as, "What's best for our team and our season."