With a dominant Week 10 victory over the Minnesota Vikings, the Baltimore Ravens finally look like the team they were supposed to be all along. They have bounced back in the league, now sitting at 4-5. However, safety Kyle Hamilton is pulling back the curtain on the locker room’s surprising, self-inflicted wound, which resulted in their 1-5 start.

“What partially got us to 1-5 (record) was we came into the season maybe thinking – not speaking for everybody – but we’re the Baltimore Ravens,” Hamilton said. “We’re gonna do this and that, and teams are just going to lay down and let us win games, and that’s not how it is in this league.”

The Ravens were one of the strong contenders in the AFC North entering the season. However, the inconsistent performance, topped with injuries, hindered their season. They lost four back-to-back games.

Hamilton’s revelation suggests that the locker room was very confident in winning, which may have crossed the line into overconfidence, resulting in losses one after the other. Additionally, Lamar Jackson’s injury hit them hard, forcing them to see the reality of the season.

“So we got punched in the mouth early in the season,” he said, “but now I think we’re responding well and we’ll have that scar tissue going forward when we start stacking wins.”

In their last outing against Minnesota, and the week before that when they beat Miami 28-6, the Ravens seemed to be finding some balance on both sides of the ball. The return of quarterback Lamar Jackson from a hamstring injury stabilized things, and a rested defense recaptured some of the tenacity it had lacked initially.

“There’s still 11 games left that we’re guaranteed,” he said earlier this week during an NFL FLAG clinic with military families.

Having reached the playoffs in each of Hamilton’s first three seasons, Baltimore’s safety knows adversity was overdue. However, the win is special when it comes after a tumultuous start, and the head coach couldn’t help but open up about his emotional struggles.

John Harbaugh couldn’t believe the win

Head coach John Harbaugh revealed how emotionally frustrating the first half of the season has been. Following the win, Harbaugh admitted the moment hit him hard.

”At the end of the game, I was pretty choked up inside,” he said. “I didn’t shed a tear — I wouldn’t let that happen — how hard they fought and how much they believed, how much courage they showed, you know.”

Even in victory, he did not forget to acknowledge one of the blocks in their journey.

While addressing the media, he said, “We’re still under 500. We recognize that and we know we’re going to have a big fight.”

The Ravens will face the Cleveland Browns next, and as Harbaugh mentioned, it will be ”big tough knockdown dragout fight in Cleveland next week.”

Through it all, the emotion in Harbaugh’s comments reflected a coach deeply connected with his players, not detached or distant. His opening up about the emotional struggles regarding the bad phase tells that it isn’t just about Xs and Os. It’s about belief.

And he is not alone in that; his players have the same belief.  For example, Hamilton called for renewed accountability; the veteran coach emphasized grit and perspective.

Baltimore’s revival now depends on maintaining that balance.