The Ravens will be fine, and the sky isn’t falling.
Really.
Monday’s humbling 34-20 loss to defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City will sting for quite some time, but all it really proved is there’s no debating that the Chiefs are still the best team in the NFL and Patrick Mahomes remains atop the quarterback mountain. The Ravens and Lamar Jackson had the chance to prove otherwise before being thoroughly outplayed and outcoached, confirming they’re still one of the 31 teams chasing Kansas City with clear work to do on both sides of the ball.
That doesn’t mean they won’t be a great team and a Super Bowl contender by season’s end. After all, the 2000 Ravens went the entire month of October without scoring a touchdown. The 2012 Ravens were embarrassed in their own stadium by Denver just four weeks before the “Mile High Miracle.” Just because the Ravens didn’t beat the Chiefs on Monday doesn’t mean they never will, but that one still hurt.
As Jackson said, the Chiefs remain their “kryptonite” until they do something about it.
“They’re a better football team at this point in time,” head coach John Harbaugh said. “You win or you learn, and we have a lot to learn from this game right here.”
More frustrating than falling to 0-3 against Kansas City in the Jackson era is that the Ravens are seemingly moving in the wrong direction in these matchups. Two years ago, a commendable defensive effort held Mahomes and the Chiefs to just 24 points in regulation before an overtime loss. Last season, a depleted secondary offered less resistance in a 33-28 defeat, but the Ravens still fought back with 452 yards of offense to make the game somewhat interesting. On Monday, the score wasn’t an accurate reflection of a lopsided affair as special teams — thanks to rookie Devin Duvernay’s 93-yard return for a touchdown and Justin Tucker’s kicking — were the only facet of the game in which the Ravens felt superior. Harbaugh, Greg Roman, and Wink Martindale had no answers for Chiefs head coach Andy Reid and coordinators Eric Bieniemy and Steve Spagnuolo as the Ravens seemed to lose their poise early in the first half and never recovered.
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Some will use the performance as a referendum on Jackson and the offense after he suggested the Chiefs copied elements of Tennessee’s defensive game plan from January, which does make it concerning that Roman didn’t have the counterpunch this time around. The list of best practices may indeed be coming into better focus in Jackson’s third year — something that will be monitored as the season continues — but the Ravens still managed to score 71 points over their first two games of 2020, meaning at least Cleveland and Houston didn’t get the offseason memo that the league has suddenly “figured out” the reigning league MVP. The truth is many teams still lack the necessary combination of coaching acumen, discipline, and defensive talent to compress the middle of field while protecting the edges, which is why the Ravens will continue to win games at a high rate while embarrassing quite a few opponents along the way.
But they must find a way to operate at a higher level when knocked off schedule by the opposition. It might also help to not be so quick to abandon their offensive identity at the earliest signs of trouble. Baltimore remains at its best running the football with Jackson throwing at opportune times rather than when attempting to go toe to toe with an elite quarterback like Mahomes, especially with the latter having superior pass-catching weapons at his disposal.
Again, it’s only Week 3 with the next three opponents on the schedule having combined for one win so far this season. After that comes a home game with Pittsburgh, which is more interesting with Ben Roethlisberger back in the picture but a contest Baltimore will still be expected to win. The Ravens entering their Week 8 bye with a 6-1 record would surprise no one, which will be part of the challenge of navigating these next three months.
We’ve already seen a franchise-best 14-2 mark, a 12-game winning streak, and the best point differential in the NFL since the 2007 New England Patriots. The various league and franchise records as well as the individual awards and honors poured in at a rate difficult to keep up with last year. And all it took was three nightmarish hours against the Titans to leave a magical season unfulfilled.
The journey will still be fun on a game-to-game basis, of course, but Monday’s loss makes the path to January that much more thankless as doubts persist about the Ravens’ ability to beat Kansas City and succeed in the playoffs. Winning in the regular season is expected now — that’s a compliment to their great success since Jackson replaced Joe Flacco two years ago — but these next 13 games aren’t going to silence the prevailing questions.
The Ravens had their coming-of-age opportunity against the defending champs and failed miserably, leaving a long road ahead for the potential next opportunity.
“I know who we are and what we’re capable of, and [Mahomes] was able to go out there and do some great things against us,” defensive end Calais Campbell said. “You have to take your hat off to him and give him some respect. I’m really looking forward to earning the right to try to face them again because I’m very confident that if we play the game we’re supposed to, we can hang with those guys.”
The Ravens will do all they can to speak that into existence over these next three months, but they weren’t at all convincing on Monday.
