Luis Enrique conceded that Barcelona are now relying on Real Madrid to slip up after they fell five points behind Zinedine Zidane's side at the top of La Liga.
Barca earned a late draw at Villarreal on Sunday thanks to a Lionel Messi free kick, but it was not enough to move back in touch with Madrid, who hammered Granada 5-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday.
The Blaugrana have now won just five of their last 11 games in all competitions and are yet to win in the New Year after losing their first game of 2017 in the Copa del Rey at Athletic Bilbao in midweek.
"We don't depend on ourselves in the league," Barca boss Luis Enrique said in his postgame news conference. "But there's still half of the season and more to go.
"So of course there's time [for a reaction in title race] and we [still] have the opportunity to fight for [the title], but we depend on Madrid. The only option we have is to start winning right now. To win and to keep winning."
Messi's 13th goal in La Liga this season rescued a point for Barca after Nicola Sansone's opener, but Luis Enrique felt his side were worthy of all three points.
And despite disappointing results against Athletic and Villarreal over the past three days, he insists he's happy with a lot of what he's seen.
"We deserved the three points in terms of chances and in terms of play, but we're not in a favourable dynamic," he added. "We hit the post and we generated enough chances to win.
"I would like to say that Barcelona have played poorly, but that wasn't even the case in Bilbao. They've been two satisfactory performances, but the results are bad. We have to enter another dynamic now.
"We have to keep improving. When you're stuck in a dynamic like this you have to be stronger than ever. I have no doubts that we will come out of it."