CINCINNATI — As the final seconds ticked off on the Ravens' 2016 season and on Steve Smith Sr.'s 16-year career, the introspective wide receiver found his mind drifting. It was suddenly consumed not by how he would spend his post-retirement life, but on how he would indulge after the game.

“Am I going to eat a gallon of rocky road ice cream?” Smith said when asked what was going through his mind in the latter stages of the Ravens' 27-10 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium. “I just tried not to get emotional.”

Smith got plenty emotional in the days leading up to the game. On Wednesday, he said that there was an 89 percent chance Sunday would be the end of his career. The figure invoked his uniform number. After the game, he said unequivocally that he had played his final game.

“I enjoyed it, but it's over; it's done,” Smith said. “I know it's my time. Some people say, ‘Could I play another year?' I probably could, but what I would lose, I'm not willing to risk.”

Smith, 37, had a relatively quiet finale, as did the rest of the Ravens' offense. He caught three of five passes for 34 yards. As the Bengals put the game away, Smith sat on the end of the Ravens' bench, and several teammates approached and thanked him.

“What a competitor, what a player,” said Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco, who hugged Smith when the wide receiver left his news conference. “He did so many things for this team. It's definitely a tough reality.”

Smith said his new reality will be spending more time at home in Charlotte, N.C., with his family, although he said the relationships he built during his three seasons with the Ravens will persist.

“I will be myself and I'll have a lot of free time, but at the same time, I'll get to be with my boys and come back to Baltimore and see some games and see Joe throw touchdowns,” Smith said. “It'll be good. I'll mooch off some other guys that mooched off me for their suites” at M&T Bank Stadium.

Hometown discount?: In what could be his final game with the Ravens, nose tackle Brandon Williams, a pending free agent, made three tackles. He finished with 51 for the season.

“Only time and God can tell if I will return to the Ravens,” Williams said. “I appreciate what the Ravens have done for me, especially Ozzie Newsome and John Harbaugh. We'll just see how it goes.”

Asked if he wanted to stay in Baltimore and if he would give the Ravens a hometown discount, Williams smiled and said: “Hey, my hometown is St. Louis.”

Mosley hurt: Despite the game having no playoff implications, Ravens coach John Harbaugh stuck to his vow to play all his healthy starters. All of them but Pro Bowl middle linebacker C.J. Mosley appeared to leave the game without any significant setbacks.

Mosley hurt his left leg while trying to tackle Bengals running back Rex Burkhead late in the fourth quarter. He was later taken by cart to the Ravens' locker room, where he was further examined. Mosley said he believes he sustained a calf strain, but he'll have an MRI taken to determine the severity.

“Nothing that's going to require surgery or anything,” said Mosley, who walked out of the locker room with a large boot on his left leg. His participation in the Pro Bowl later this month is certainly in jeopardy.

Raven milestones: Several Ravens set personal milestones on an otherwise poor offensive effort. With four catches for 33 yards, wide receiver Mike Wallace eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards for the first time since 2011.

Flacco threw for 267 yards Sunday and finished the season with a career-high 4,317 passing yards. That is the most in a single-season in franchise history, surpassing Vinny Testaverde, who threw for 4,177 yards in 1996.

“I'm sure 20 years down the road, nobody will really remember what the season was exactly like, but those things don't really mean too much to me,” Flacco said. “I'd rather be sitting here at 12-4 with a division championship in my mind and going on to the playoffs and play next week or maybe not playing next week but playing two weeks from now. I don't feel too much about it.”

Dennis Pitta set a single-game franchise record for a tight end by catching 11 passes for 91 yards. He also finished the season with a career-high 729 receiving yards.

“It's just kind of a weird feeling right now. We obviously didn't play the way we wanted to today, so we're walking out disappointed,” Pitta said. “When you talk about records and things like that, they don't mean a lot right now. There's just so much disappointment that you feel. I'm sure some day when I'm able to kind of look back and see that, it would be cool. But right now, it's obviously not something I'm super excited about because of the way the game and the season ended out.”

Reynolds scratched: Ravens wide receiver Keenan Reynolds will have to wait to make his NFL regular-season debut. Promoted to the active roster from the practice squad Friday, the former Navy quarterback was among the Ravens' seven inactives for the season finale.

In promoting Reynolds when they did, the Ravens made sure he'd be on their roster heading into next season. If he had ended the season on the practice squad, Reynolds, a sixth-round pick in the 2016 draft, would have been able to sign a reserve-future deal with another organization.

The Ravens' other six inactives were running back Buck Allen, wide receiver Vince Mayle, tight end Crockett Gillmore, offensive linemen Rick Wagner (concussion) and Ryan Jensen, and linebacker Lamar Louis.

End zone: The Ravens have lost five games in a row in Cincinnati. … Strong-side linebacker Elvis Dumervil had a third-quarter sack, the 99th of his career. The Ravens sacked Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton once and finished with just three sacks over the past four games. … Ryan Mallett relieved Flacco late in the fourth quarter and was 1-for-2 with an interception. … Safety Eric Weddle left the game with what appeared to be an ankle injury, but he returned for the Ravens' next defensive series. … Running back Jeremy Hill (knee) and linebacker Vontaze Burfict (knee/concussion) were among the Bengals' inactives. … With the Kansas City Chiefs winning the AFC West, the Ravens are assured of playing a road game next season against the Oakland Raiders, the second-place team in that division.

jeff.zrebiec@baltsun.com

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Baltimore Sun columnist Mike Preston contributed to this article.