Sports

Ravens’ run looking like true destiny

We’ve watched a version of this story unfold in the last two NFL seasons: A team gets hot late, makes a magical run in the playoffs, gets to the Super Bowl and wins it all.

Last season, the Giants were 7-7 after a dismal home loss to the Redskins and looked to be finished before winning their last two regular-season games to get into the playoffs and going on to win the Super Bowl.

Two years ago, the Packers were 8-6 with two regular-season games remaining before heating up the frozen tundra to win their last two games to get into the playoffs as a wild card and winning three postseason games on the road before capturing the Super Bowl.

The Ravens, fresh off their 28-13 AFC Championship Game second-half slap-down of the mighty Patriots on Sunday in Foxborough, have the look and sound of that kind of team as Super Bowl XLVII awaits in 12 days at the Superdome in New Orleans.

The Ravens ended the regular season losing four of their last five games and entered the playoffs as a liability, a likely one-and-done outfit despite emotions running high from Ray Lewis’ impending retirement.

Yet, who wants to bet against them now?

In this postseason, the Ravens have mowed through the upstart Colts and their rookie sensation quarterback Andrew Luck, the No. 1 AFC seed, the Broncos and Peyton Manning in Denver and the defending AFC champion Patriots and Tom Brady seeking to get to a record sixth Super Bowl.

Along the way, the Ravens’ belief has become stronger, their will and resilience more apparent with each obstacle overcome.

In the middle of the euphoric winning visitor’s locker room in the bowels of Gillette Stadium Sunday night, Ravens safety James Ihedigbo, a former Patriot and Jet, quoted the Bible verse, Joshua 3:5, which states, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.”

Ihedigbo, who like a number of Ravens players is a religious man, pointed to the litany of adversity the Ravens have battled through to get to the franchise’s first Super Bowl in 12 years — adversity that included receiver Torrey Smith’s brother being killed in September, Lewis and Terrell Suggs, the team’s two defensive leaders, having to come back from debilitating injuries, the team firing its offensive coordinator in December amidst the team’s Slump.

“We’re a team that is really pressing together, pressing toward each other toward one goal,’’ Ihedigbo said.

“This team is a team of faith,’’ receiver Anqua Boldin said. “We believed all year — no matter what the circumstances were.We’ve been through a lot as a team. You name it, we’ve been through it. But this team has never wavered.’’

Lewis said “there’s something special’’ going on in the Ravens locker room, noting the first time he, Suggs and safety Ed Reed played together in a game this season was in the wild-card playoff against the Colts.

Reed recalled the Ravens’ 34-17 home loss to the Broncos on Dec. 16 as “the lowest point in the season,’’ saying, “There were some internal things we needed to clear up to really understand each other.’’

Ravens veteran center Matt Birk yesterday credited head coach John Harbaugh for keeping the team together during the times of adversity.

“He’s a special kind of coach, a special kind of person [with] the way that he connects with players as a group, but also on an individual level,’’ Birk said. “He draws from a lot of different sources of inspiration. He’ll draw from the Bible, from history, from boxing — all sorts of stuff. When you want to play for a guy I think you play a little harder.

“He gets the most out of us. He says, ‘Let’s just work as hard as we can and get as good as we can, and then see what happens.’ ’’

Well, you see what has happened for the Ravens. The same thing that happened to the Giants last year and the Packers the year before. That makes it difficult to bet against them in New Orleans, regardless of how good the 49ers might be.

mark.cannizzaro@nypost.com