The Bengals got on the board in the 2nd quarter with Mike Nugent's 34-yard field goal to shorten the lead to 10–3. 2012 Ravens Statistics.
The 2012 Baltimore Ravens season was the team's 17th season in the National Football League. It was the Ravens' first loss ever to the Texans in franchise history and first loss to a Houston NFL team since By winning their tenth straight game against the Browns, the Ravens improved to 6–2. The Ravens got their 15th straight home win (16 including playoffs) by defeating the Raiders. The Ravens faced the Denver Broncos for the second time in the playoffs, having defeated them 21–3 in the The Broncos clawed to a 35–28 lead but had to punt back to the Ravens in the final two minutes. However, Harbaugh was claiming that he was trying to only call a timeout to save time for his team. The Ravens improved to 4–1 by winning a game where five total field goals were scored by both teams. This relocation remains a The win also marked the first time in NFL history that a starting QB has won at least 1 playoff game in his first 5 seasons as Flacco's playoff record improved to 6–4 and the team's overall record improved to 11–6.

However, the Ravens overpowered the Bengals scoring 27 unanswered points as Flacco found Dennis Pitta on a 10-yard pass to move ahead 24–13 followed up by Tucker scoring a 40-yard field goal moving them ahead 27–13. Matt Schaub found Kevin Walter in the end zone on a 25-yard touchdown pass to take a 9–3 lead, and the Texans added on in the 2nd quarter with Johnathan Joseph returning an interception 52 yards for a touchdown. However, clear replays show that the ball was extremely close to sailing wide of the upright Since field goals are not reviewable, the play could not be reviewed. The Ravens dedicated their season to former owner and founder The Ravens started their season at home against the Bengals. After forcing a Patriots punt, the Ravens drove down the field to score a field goal as time expired to win the game 31–30. It was ruled "good", giving Baltimore the win. Then the Patriots retook the lead when Tom Brady scored a touchdown.

The penalty resulted in an irate Ravens crowd chanting "Bullshit" three separate times in just over a minute during the Patriots last drive, which was picked up by NBC microphones and was clearly audible during the broadcast. Days before the game, the team was fined $20,000 for not adding The Ravens drew first blood as Justin Tucker nailed a 51-yard field goal, but Connor Barwin sacked Joe Flacco in the end zone for a safety that started a string of 29 unanswered Houston points. In the 4th quarter, the Ravens scored again off of Rice's 1-yard run for a 41–13 lead and finished the game off of Tucker's 39-yard field goal to make the final score 44–13.

However Baltimore scored 2 straight touchdowns to take the lead with 1:47 left to go in the half. Patriots coach With their ninth straight win over the Browns, the Ravens improved to 3–1. Play-by-play announcer Al Michaels said, "That's the loudest manure chant I've ever heard". The Ravens got right back to work in the 3rd quarter as Flacco connected with Tandon Doss on a 15-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 29–10, but the Texans pulled away as Arian Foster ran for two short scores, which were separated by a 54-yard Tucker field goal early in the fourth quarter. The field goal was set up by conversion of a 4th and 29 play where With 3rd-string QB Charlie Batch at the helm, the Steelers handed the Ravens their first home loss since With the loss to the Redskins the Ravens fell to 9–4 and 0–2 on the road against NFC East teams. Baltimore set a franchise record for points in a game with 55 – improving on the previous record of 48 set against the Detroit Lions on The Ravens got their third straight win against the Steelers while picking up their 12th-straight regular season division rival win and improved to 8–2. The Ravens advanced to their second Super Bowl in franchise history, facing the San Francisco 49ers. The Ravens lost their third straight game and fell to 9–5. They won their second Super Bowl, 34… This was also their 14th straight regular season home win. The game went into overtime with a field goal by Tucker. In the signature play of the game—a deep touchdown strike by The Ravens found themselves playing against the Patriots in the AFC Championship game for the second year in a row after losing to them in heartbreaking fashion by a score of 23–20 in the With the comeback win after trailing in the first-half, the Ravens not only improved their overall record to 13–6, but also advanced to the Super Bowl for the first time The Ravens were the last team to defeat the Patriots at Foxborough in the playoffs until the Tennessee Titans pulled off the feat 7 years later. This was followed up by Ray Rice's 7-yard run to make the score 10–0. Then Brady scored a touchdown right at the end of the half to retake the lead 20–14. This would be the first time two brothers were head coaches of opposing teams in the Super Bowl with the 49ers being led by Team owner Steve Bisciotti stated during a press conference that the Ravens New England clinched the AFC's No.

New England started off fast as they drew to a 13–0 lead in the first quarter. 2 seed over Houston based on a head-to-head victory.Baltimore clinched the AFC North title over Cincinnati based on a better divisional record (4–2 to 3–3).San Diego finished with a better conference record than Miami (7–5 to 5–7).Tennessee finished ahead of New York Jets and Buffalo based on head-to-head victory.New York Jets finished ahead of Buffalo in the AFC East based on record versus common opponents (5–7 to 3–9).Jacksonville finished with a better conference record than Kansas City (2–10 to 0–12).When breaking ties for three or more teams under the NFL's rules, they are first broken within divisions, then comparing only the highest ranked remaining team from each division.
With the Bengals' loss to the Dolphins the Ravens moved into first place in the AFC North.