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As the Ravens closed in on their first win in 42 days, coach John Harbaugh approached Roquan Smith near the sideline Sunday afternoon. They had been through a lot over the Ravens’ monthlong losing streak, the longtime coach and his All-Pro inside linebacker, and this victory felt better together.

So they embraced, standing together for one moment, then another, then another, a picture of unity in a season that had seemed increasingly fractured.

“At the end of the day, it’s about getting a win, and getting a win is very hard in this league,” Smith said after the Ravens’ 30-16 win over the Chicago Bears ended a four-game skid. “The last month has been very tough for each and every one inside of our locker room, and for all the true fans and things of that nature, [because we] understand how that can be.”

This season hasn’t been easy for Ravens players. It hasn’t been easy for Ravens coaches, either. Defensive coordinator Zach Orr entered the bye week with fans calling for his head on a platter. Offensive coordinator Todd Monken came back from the bye to questions about his play-calling tendencies and relationships with players. Every member of the Ravens’ staff has been questioned at some point this season, from Harbaugh to his assistant coaches to his support staff.

Success has always been the best silencer. The Ravens just hadn’t been able to summon it. They came to M&T Bank Stadium with a 1-5 record and their most important player, quarterback Lamar Jackson, in street clothes. Another loss would’ve left the Ravens with almost no margin for error in a potential playoff push.

They needed every edge they could find against a streaking Bears team. A Week 8 turnaround would have to be a group effort, coaches getting better buy-in from players, players getting more help from coaches. Offense, defense, special teams — everything had to come together to save this season.

“I can’t emphasize enough how proud I am of the players, the coaches and everybody involved,” said Harbaugh, who improved to 15-3 in games immediately after a bye. “I thought our defensive coaches had a great game plan. It was excellent. It was executed in an excellent way by the players throughout the game. And the offensive coaches had a great game plan. I thought Todd was — his play-calling was just incredible, on point, really effective.”

After one quarter, it was fair to wonder whether the Ravens’ embattled staff had spent the bye doomscrolling. Quarterback Tyler Huntley’s first drive was a three-and-out. The Bears’ first two possessions were comfortable marches into field goal range. Had coach Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Dennis Allen figured out the Ravens that quickly, that easily?

Not really. After the lopsided first quarter, the Ravens outgained Chicago 352-247. They moved the ball with relative ease. They forced two three-and-outs themselves. They won the turnover battle against the NFL’s turnover differential kings, finally keeping the ball out of harm’s way with a ball control attack and getting a backbreaking interception from cornerback Nate Wiggins in the fourth quarter.

“It feels good, just running on the field, knowing our head coach trusts us,” Wiggins said. “It just makes us want to go out, play harder and get a stop.”

Harbaugh had made his boldest call of the afternoon just a minute earlier in the fourth quarter. The Ravens, leading 16-13 with just under 10 minutes remaining in regulation, faced fourth-and-5 at Chicago’s 39-yard line, near the edge of rookie kicker Tyler Loop’s field goal range. The Ravens’ win probability, according to ESPN, was down to 65.5%, as low as it had been since the first half.

With left tackle Ronnie Stanley sidelined by a minor injury, Harbaugh sent his offense back onto the field. The Ravens tried to draw the Bears offside. They didn’t bite. So on came punter Jordan Stout instead.

“The downside of not getting [the first down] was pretty steep,” Harbaugh said. “So we just felt like, ‘You know what? Let’s go ahead and try to see if we can try to draw them offsides, and then see if we can execute the punt.’”

Stout’s 40-yard punt was so precise, he might as well have jogged downfield and handed the ball himself to gunner Tylan Wallace, who downed it at the 4-yard line. “When I see that,” Stout said, “I don’t think I could be happier on a football field.”

Two plays later, Wiggins undercut quarterback Caleb Williams’ pass to wide receiver Rome Odunze and returned his second interception of the season to Chicago’s 9-yard line. Two plays after that, Huntley found tight end Charlie Kolar wide open on a play-action pass for a 10-yard touchdown that restored the Ravens’ double-digit lead.

“Obviously, it’s hard when you lose four in a row,” said Kolar, one of eight Ravens to finish with a catch. “We just keep saying the same thing: ‘Just keep getting better, just keep getting better.’ And that’s all you really can do, because this is the NFL. So I think this team has a lot of maturity. We just keep focusing on us, keep fixing mistakes and keep getting better. There are only two things you can do in this business. You can either quit or get better. So I have a lot of respect for guys on this team, the coaches, that resiliency to just keep your heads down and keep playing.”

Without Jackson, the Ravens’ offense didn’t have much margin for error. So Monken kept things simple. He leaned on running back Derrick Henry (21 carries for 74 yards) and play-action on early downs, sprinkled in change-of-pace looks for running back Keaton Mitchell (four carries for 43 yards) and empowered Huntley (186 passing yards, 53 rushing yards) to scramble when the opportunity was there. The Bears sacked Huntley twice but otherwise struggled to pressure him.

Without much pass rush talent, the Ravens’ defense didn’t have margin for error, either. So Orr had to restore some franchise fundamentals. After a dodgy first quarter, the Ravens’ run defense bowed up against one of the NFL’s hottest ground games, holding running backs D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai to just 69 rushing yards total. The Ravens finished with just one sack and four quarterback hits, but Orr’s pressure packages and coverage calls were creative enough and sound enough to force a handful of key third-down stops.

“It’s just always about revamping, improving and putting each and every guy in the best situation to succeed,” said Smith, who finished with a game-high 12 tackles in his first game against his former team. “I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for the whole entire defensive staff, who know what each and every guy does best, and for putting them in the best place. So that’s what it’s all about, but I feel like we’re just getting started on who we are, and we know who we are, but just more so for the outside. We just got to continue that, week in and week out, and it’s just a start. And now we’re on our way.”