Hallelujah. We can hardly believe our eyes.

Was that Derrick Henry smashing through the Bengals’ defense for back-to-back runs of 20-plus yards? Was that Lamar Jackson throwing a 28-yard touchdown pass to Zay Flowers on a dot?

Hot damn, it looks like the Ravens have arrived.

Thanks for finally showing up.

The defense has shown more life in the last month or so than the offense, but still it was nice to see Marlon Humphrey making plays on the ball, including a pick, and Alohi Gilman wrestling down open-field runners for tackles. Roquan Smith looked just as dangerous in coverage as he was stuffing rushers at the line.

And was that — no, it couldn’t have been! — a pass rush? It feels like forever since we’ve seen one from the Ravens’ defense.

What a funny Sunday. Out of the freezer of Paycor Stadium, the Ravens finally reheated their playoff hopes in a 24-0 flattening of the Cincinnati Bengals.

For about three hours, the natural order felt restored: Baltimore establishing itself near the top of the AFC North, and the hapless Bengals languishing at the bottom.

Joe Burrow couldn’t even buy a point in his own stadium. After the Bengals romped at M&T Bank two weeks ago, who would have thunk it?

That’s right — all of us, an eternity ago, before this season started.

In the preseason, the Ravens were one of the betting favorites to make the Super Bowl for the first time in the Jackson era. The blustery blowout in Cincinnati felt like the long-awaited delivery on all that offseason hype.

“It was our best football game of the year,” coach John Harbaugh said.

No argument here. The biggest question is why it took so long.

Here we are in Week 15, wondering if the Ravens can beat odds that are now stacked against them, and suddenly they blow the doors off a team they couldn’t hang with on Thanksgiving at home. It shouldn’t be lost that the Bengals have the worst defense in the NFL and were missing Tee Higgins, one of Burrow’s most dynamic targets, but somehow neither of those factors stopped them last time.

If this had happened two weeks ago, the Ravens would be in much better postseason position.

What was the difference? Ravens players said it was a physical, animated week of practice — including Friday, which is usually more of a walk-through vibe. Humphrey told the media his teammates hit so hard he was aching on Saturday — not the normal ebb and flow.

Hall of Famer Ed Reed apparently rallied the troops during the week in Owings Mills, and defensive coordinator Zach Orr hammered in the message. What we got was a Ravens defense that was positively nasty, pounding the Bengals (without drawing many flags) and making sure their white jerseys were grass-stained and bloody by day’s end.

“As competitors, I think we’re pissed off we lost to them the first time — I’m not going to lie,” said Gilman, who ran back Kyle Van Noy’s lateral for a touchdown. “So that’s kind of where I came from.”

Maybe Steve Bisciotti can get Reed on the payroll for the rest of the season. Whatever stirred up the team, Baltimore could use a whole lot more of it for the final three weeks.

Harbaugh teased some of his players, including Jackson, about being late for the Saturday afternoon flight to Cincinnati because they were trapped in the city by the Secret Service during the president’s commute to Baltimore for the Army-Navy game.

“Not even Lamar Jackson can get through,” Harbaugh quipped about the blockage, which nearly forced the Ravens to fly to Louisville, Kentucky, and catch a bus to Cincy.

Fortunately, Jackson arrived — to the game and with his play — just a bit later than we all would have liked.

After a run of timidity, Jackson played his most complete game in weeks. Aside from one high throw to Mark Andrews, his accuracy looked much improved from the three-week span when he didn’t throw (or run) for one touchdown. He took advantage of the Bengals missing Trey Hendrickson, and his two-minute drill before halftime was among the season’s best.

It helped that Jackson had a clean pocket more times than not, for a line that has taken a beating from its own fans as well as its opponents. The Ravens are not the world-beating, point-scoring machine they were a year ago, but Jackson said the unit’s performance is “starting to” feel a little closer to its normal self.

“I believe all of us on offense had good rhythm,” he said. “It felt like us, and we just have to keep pushing the envelope.”

If the Ravens keep gaining momentum, wow — that’s a team we all would want to see in the playoffs.

There’s just one more prayer Baltimore fans need to be answered: that, hopefully, it’s not too late for the Ravens to get there.