INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Quarterback Lamar Jackson didn’t rush to the sideline to try, as he often does. Instead, he slowly left the field and walked to the bench without attempting to explain to head coach John Harbaugh the reason for the offense.

Why bother at this point?

The Baltimore Ravens know how aggressive their coach is, but they also understand that going fourth on their own in the second quarter, especially in a three-point game, would take a huge leap of faith. As the offense left the field, the punt team gathered to enter the field.

“I thought we were going to hit the ball,” Jackson said.

So did everyone else, probably including the Los Angeles Chargers. But at some point during the two-minute warning, Harbaugh decided he wanted to give it a try.

He called it a “group decision.” Conversations with offensive coordinator Todd Monken during the delay about which play the Ravens would play — a head-on attack on Mark Andrews with running back Derrick Henry and fullback Patrick Ricard packing a combined 547 pounds on the tight end — apparently sealed the decision.

“I just thought we could do it,” Harbaugh said. “It was the right thing to do.”

Some people involved in the crime found out more quickly than others. The offensive linemen were already seated. They jumped off the bench and stormed onto the field. Henry left a little later.

The Ravens didn’t need much and the truth is they didn’t get much either. Andrews was probably short until Henry’s push from behind helped him gain 2 yards. Three plays and a pass interference penalty later, the Ravens were in the end zone when Jackson hit Rashod Bateman on an interference tackle for a 40-yard score. The momentum at the massive SoFi Stadium had shifted to the crowd, who sleepwalked through the first quarter on “Monday Night Football.”

LAMAR GOES 40 METERS DEEP TO BATEMAN.

The Ravens take the lead before halftime!

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“That (the fourth-down play) changed the game,” Ricard said.

It took a while for the Ravens to show up for the third annual Harbaugh Bowl, which their older brother John again won by a 30-23 margin. It was the aggressiveness of Baltimore’s head coach, who also watched his team score two quarter-and-shorts on a key touchdown drive in the third and fourth quarters, that helped the Ravens gain control after being down in the second quarter had fallen ten points behind.

When they finally found their footing and scored points on five straight drives with four touchdowns and a Justin Tucker field goal, it was a classic Ravens performance. Jackson was good, throwing two touchdown passes and not putting the ball in danger, with another quality performance in prime time. Henry and the running game were great, totaling 212 yards on the ground, controlling the clock and seemingly breaking the Chargers’ will in the second half.

The defense, playing without leading tackler and signal-caller Roquan Smith, allowed a long touchdown drive on the game’s first possession but was otherwise solid, with normally unremarkable players like Malik Harrison, Chris Board and Ar’Darius Washington taking the starring roles.

After their opening 70-yard scoring drive, which ended with a Justin Herbert touchdown run, the Chargers didn’t get back into the end zone until their old friend Gus Edwards scored from 1 yard out with 46 seconds left. That made it a touchdown play, but Isaiah Likely pounced on the ensuing onside kick to prevent further drama.

This was a game the Ravens, now 8-4 and a half-game behind the Steelers (8-3) for first place in the AFC North, desperately needed after a disheartening loss to Pittsburgh in their last game. It would have been a big missed opportunity to lose after the Steelers lost a game in the snow to the last-place Cleveland Browns on Thursday night.

Plus, it would have added even more pressure on the Ravens if the red-hot Philadelphia Eagles, who looked like world champions in the same building 24 hours earlier, came to town for Sunday’s showdown on a short week.

Things didn’t look good early on either, after the Ravens’ first two offensive attempts ended in punts and the Chargers scored on two of their first three possessions.

“We just don’t shy away,” said Harrison, who had a game-high 13 tackles as part of a three-man committee that replaced Smith. “Lean on each other and just tell everyone, ‘Let’s go.’ It was still early. We’re still going to put our chin straps on and go out and play.”

The game was meaningful for many Ravens players, but perhaps more important for none than Harrison. He didn’t know what role he would play because there was some optimism that Smith, who had never missed a game due to injury as a Raven before Monday, would be active. Smith had a long practice before the game and was eager to go. The Ravens played it safe and assigned Harrison, Board and Kristian Welch as part of a rotation to fill the inside linebacker spot.

Harrison in particular has drawn a lot of criticism this season for his defensive issues. Still, he entered the interview room with a game ball in hand after playing what Harbaugh called the best game of the versatile fifth-year linebacker’s career.

“A lot of people doubted me coming into this game, so I’m glad I was able to push through and show them I can be in this league and play at a high level,” Harrison said.

Harbaugh also got a game ball. He spent much of the week downplaying the matchup with his brother and the litany of former Ravens who are part of the Chargers’ front office, coaching staff and roster. He still downplayed it after the game, but Harbaugh is far too competitive for this win not to give him some extra satisfaction, especially since he hit so many of the right buttons along the way.

“Coach ‘Harbs’ didn’t emphasize it too much. That’s just the type of guy he is,” said Andrews, who gave the Ravens some breathing room with a hard-contested 6-yard touchdown catch in the back of the end zone early in the fourth quarter. “When you think about it and this family, it’s really incredible – how they’re wired and what they’ve done. For us it just means that we support our coach. We know he has ours, and we have his too.”

Mark Andrews jumps for SIX.

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Andrews and the players pointed out that Harbaugh’s decision to play on fourth-and-1 was further evidence of how much the head coach believes in the team. For Jackson, it brought back memories of the win over Seattle in 2019 when Harbaugh decided to go for it on fourth-and-2 and Jackson responded with a touchdown run.

“That’s where I think he just believed that we weren’t really going to be stopped,” Jackson said. “It’s just little, little things that we just need to clean up.”

According to ESPN Stats & Info, the Ravens became the first team since the Rams in 2012 to convert a fourth down so deep in their own territory in the first half. Andrews was also almost stopped, which would have caused plenty of doubt in Baltimore all week.

“I told Mark, ‘I’m going to squeeze the crap out of you so they’re willing to get this work,'” Henry said. “He said, ‘I felt you.’ I said, ‘You’re damn right.’ I had to give him a push so we could get it.”

The rest of the Ravens’ 212 rushing yards — they became the first group to ever eclipse 200 yards on the ground against a Jim Harbaugh-led team — came more conventionally. There was a lot of Henry left, Henry in the top center and Henry on the right. For the first time as a Raven, he didn’t score a touchdown in a game, but managed 140 yards and averaged 5.8 yards per tote.

Ricard said the Ravens basically played the same running game over and over again in the fourth quarter, albeit on different sides, because the Chargers had so much trouble stopping it.

However, it was Justice Hill’s 51-yard touchdown dash down the sideline that nearly killed the game. The score gave the Ravens a 30-16 lead and capped a stretch in which Baltimore scored touchdowns on four of five drives.

Suddenly the Ravens looked like the Ravens again. It all started with a gutsy fourth-down call and continued with them reclaiming their offensive identity: a few big plays in the passing game and plenty of productive runs.

“We just have to keep pushing,” Jackson said. “We can’t come up for air. We have to stay down and just stay locked in.”

(Photo by Rashod Bateman: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)