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MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The happiest place in South Florida on Thursday night was the locker room of a 3-5 team. Inside Hard Rock Stadium, on the eve of Halloween, the Ravens were delighted to celebrate, if for no other reason than they finally looked like themselves.

A 28-6 win over the Miami Dolphins in prime time hadn’t been pretty, but it had been restorative. For the first time all season, the Ravens had won consecutive games. For the first time since Week 3, they were within touching distance of the AFC North-leading Pittsburgh Steelers. For the first time since Week 4, they had their talismanic quarterback, Lamar Jackson, back healthy. For the first time in a while, a playoff berth felt like a perfectly reasonable expectation.

“We had two games that we needed to win in [five] days, and they were absolute must-wins,” coach John Harbaugh said. “For our guys to step up the way they did, and to step out the way they did, and play the kind of football they did with their backs to the wall, on the canvas, and to get back up and do what they did, is commendable.”

This Ravens team should enter every game with a warning label: Beware of severe whiplash. At the season’s midpoint, the Ravens have already looked like one of the NFL’s best teams (up until the fourth quarter of a Week 1 loss to the Buffalo Bills), one of the softest defenses (a Week 3 loss to the Detroit Lions), one of the most injury-depleted teams (a Week 5 loss to the Houston Texans) and now, naturally, one of the teams best positioned for a late-season turnaround.

The Ravens returned from their bye last week with a 1-5 record, tied for their worst start in franchise history, and only a 35% chance of winning the division, according to The New York Times’ playoff odds. After their wins Sunday over the Chicago Bears and Thursday over Miami (2-7), along with the Pittsburgh Steelers’ loss Sunday night to the Green Bay Packers, the Ravens’ odds of a division title three-peat have skyrocketed to 66%.

“It definitely feels better,” fullback Patrick Ricard said. “But 3-5 still doesn’t sound super great, either. But 1-5, yeah, that’s bad. I don’t remember the last time I’ve been 1-5 playing football. But, yeah, 3-5 is definitely better. We’re trying to keep winning.”

A spiraling Ravens season has stabilized. On Saturday, the team ruled out Jackson, who’d been listed as questionable after leading the scout team offense in Friday’s practice. That raised questions not just about the Ravens’ handling of Jackson’s practice designations but also about whether enough help would arrive in time. The Bears had won four straight games. The Ravens hadn’t won without Jackson starting since 2022.

Now the Ravens will enter their mini-bye with two impressive wins in a five-day span, an upbeat locker room, a forgiving schedule and one of the NFL’s best players finally back in pads.

“It’s do or die, win or go home, and usually, we start off winning games,” Jackson said. “We never [are] behind, but right now, we’re behind, and we all have to step it up.”

Jackson will be the engine once again. In his first start since Week 4, when he suffered a hamstring injury that sidelined him for a month, the two-time NFL Most Valuable Player went 18-for-23 for 204 yards and four touchdowns against a woeful Dolphins defense. In Jackson’s five starts this season, the Ravens have averaged 31.8 points per game, over a point higher than last year’s record-breaking team (30.5 per game).

Jackson’s return wasn’t a panacea for the offense. The Ravens entered halftime with three straight three-and-outs. Their rushing attack struggled until late. The offensive line is still finding its way in pass protection and run blocking.

But the Ravens’ schedule does not demand perfection from Jackson. Over the next six weeks, they will face just one defense ranked in the top 15 of FTN’s opponent-adjusted efficiency rankings — and it’s a Browns defense that Jackson solved in a Week 2 blowout win.

“He’s pretty unbelievable,” said Charlie Kolar, who combined with fellow tight end Mark Andrews to catch three of Jackson’s four touchdowns. “Obviously, he’s maybe the best athlete on the field, and then also, he’s so efficient and good with his throws. I just think he’s unbelievable. ... Obviously, we believe in Coop (Cooper Rush) and Snoop (Tyler Huntley), but still having your MVP back, it just brings a whole new level of confidence in the team and the offense.”

The Ravens have the pieces on offense to build another Death Star under coordinator Todd Monken. It’s their outlook on defense, however, that will shape general manager Eric DeCosta’s pursuit of a division title and beyond this season.

After allowing at least 37 points in four of the first five weeks, the Ravens have given up just 39 points total over the past three games. After entering the bye with three takeaways in six games, the Ravens have forced four total turnovers in their back-to-back wins, including a season-high three Thursday.

DeCosta probably won’t find a paradigm-shifting playmaker on the trade block by the NFL’s Tuesday afternoon deadline. But can he find a starter who can add to a defensive front lacking pass rush pop and another high-impact run defender? Can he acquire the right player at the right price?

On Thursday, the Ravens got enough stops from a rising rookie class and their veteran core to keep Miami out of the end zone, a first for their defense this season. (Some favorable calls and a misfiring Tua Tagovailoa didn’t hurt, either.) But the Ravens and defensive coordinator Zach Orr have desperately needed help at points this season, and they’ll probably need more of it before long.

“We’ve just kept our head down and kept working when things didn’t go our way,” said safety Malaki Starks, who had his first career interception and was one of three Ravens defensive backs to force a turnover Thursday. “And now we’re on the climb to get to where we want, but we have to keep working.”

At 3-5, the Ravens don’t have much of a choice. But not all 3-5 teams are created equal. Few have the Ravens’ momentum, their vibes, their schedule, their quarterback.

That won’t be enough to revamp a season that was teetering only six days ago. But it’s a good place to start.