ExtremeRavens Posted Monday at 01:00 PM Posted Monday at 01:00 PM PITTSBURGH — It’s OK to open your eyes now. The Ravens’ nightmare season is finally over. The brutal ending Sunday night felt all too familiar. So familiar that rookie kicker Tyler Loop’s missed 44-yard field goal attempt on the game’s final play felt predictable. Baltimore’s season-ending 26-24 loss to the Steelers wasn’t shocking or cruel. It was actually the picturesque conclusion to a forgettable season that repeatedly warned that it could end this way. Wide right. Season over. Time to pack your bags and head home before the dance even begins. It wasn’t supposed to end like this. Baltimore entered the season widely viewed as a Super Bowl favorite. The Ravens returned two-time MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson, armed with a roster designed to compete for the franchise’s third Lombardi trophy. But when a season that begins with championship expectations quickly falls off the rails before abruptly ending without a playoff berth, the result is an indictment of preparation, execution and decisions made across the entire organization. And as the first-place Steelers bounced the Ravens in front of a national audience, change, in some form or fashion, feels inevitable. “It’s disappointing. I think our guys fought,” 18th-year coach John Harbaugh said. “We were that close to winning the [AFC] North, and we didn’t get a chance to get it done. So, all that other stuff is history. We had a chance to do it; we didn’t do it. We’re disappointed, and we’ll move on. “ Loop’s miss might be the most remembered moment, but it was merely the final snapshot in a season-long album of disappointment, penalties, blown assignments, missed opportunities, injuries and lost composure. Sure enough, all of those issues resurfaced in the Week 18 defeat. Baltimore committed a season-high nine penalties for 78 yards Sunday night, avoidable self-inflicted wounds that stalled drives and extended others. Still, Jackson refused to let the season slip away. He was brilliant in the fourth quarter, bailing out his much-maligned defense again and again. Jackson chucked a pair of high-arcing go-ahead touchdown passes to Zay Flowers that should have been more than enough. He finished with a nearly perfect 156.3 passer rating in the final frame. So much for that two-man rescue mission. Much like it has all season, Baltimore’s 30th-ranked defense showed its true colors, allowing 42-year-old quarterback Aaron Rodgers to dice through its secondary, which lost star safety Kyle Hamilton to a concussion earlier in the game. The pass rush was notably toothless, registering just one true sack of Rodgers, who finished with more than 50 dropbacks. The lack of beef in the trenches was a glaring issue all season, and it flared up under the spotlight at Acrisure Stadium. Once again, the Ravens couldn’t close. It was their third and final collapse in the fourth quarter this season. The ending was chaotic, but it wasn’t unfamiliar. It mirrored the entire campaign, with flashes of jaw-dropping moments that ultimately were swallowed by lapses in execution at the worst possible time. “Oh my [bleeping] God,” Flowers repeatedly yelled as he exited the field in disbelief. He was the second player to depart behind veteran cornerback Marlon Humphrey. Loop followed shortly after, accompanied and consoled by Harbaugh as he walked off the field. When the locker room doors opened, the rookie kicker stood frozen at his locker, staring at his notebook, which included his pregame prayer. “I took my steps, took over. I visualized what the ball looks like when it’s held down,” Loop reflected on his missed kick. “Jordan [Stout] picked up his fingers, and that was my cue to go. I saw the ball, tried to visualize the ball going through the uprights where I wanted it, swung, and the result didn’t match my process. “I caught a little bit [of the ground]. The operation was great. It was a great situation, exactly what we wanted, and unfortunately, I just mishit the ball. We call it hitting it thin. It spins fast and goes off to the right.” Off to the right and off to the abyss went Baltimore’s season. The 2025 Ravens will be remembered as a team that never consistently matched its talent with execution. Additionally, it was a team whose depth turned out to be flawed and unreliable. General manager Eric DeCosta had several personnel misfires from the offseason and he ultimately failed to supply the team with necessary in-season reinforcements. “I felt like we were in really good calls, and it was about the players actually executing the call and not getting lackadaisical [or] complacent,” linebacker Roquan Smith said. “I don’t know what it is, personally, but it’s something. I’m searching for those answers, as well, where it’s just like the mental intensity and carrying that over, play-in and play-out, until the echo of the whistle. “Because we have to do that if we want to ever get somewhere, and it sucks.” Sunday night’s exit now marks three consecutive seasons of regression. From losing to the Chiefs at home in the AFC championship game in the 2023 season, to falling in the divisional round at Buffalo last year, to not even reaching the playoffs this season. Owner Steve Bisciotti, who hasn’t spoken to local media since 2022, will face evaluations of staff and personnel over the coming days and weeks, and maybe he’ll realize that he employs folks in charge of this downward trend. Will that be enough for him to make changes at key spots? Does defensive coordinator Zach Orr deserve to be back for Year 3? What about Todd Monken, who reportedly interviewed for the then-vacant Michigan opening last month? Change feels inevitable across the coaching staff, considering how the vast majority of position groups either regressed or failed to meet expectation. The big variable, of course, remains Harbaugh, who just last offseason signed a contract extension. Changes are coming. At what degree remains to be seen. It was a miserable year for a team that was believed to be destined for so much more. The season ended with a ball spinning wide right into the Pittsburgh night. “It think it only gets harder [to absorb these types of losses],” veteran offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley said. “Coming up short with the type of team that we have, it doesn’t feel good.” Two years ago, the Ravens stood one win away from the Super Bowl. Now they’ll be watching playoff football from home. The nightmare is finally over. The embarrassment and questions hovering a franchise with much higher standards will linger far into the offseason. Have a news tip? Contact Josh Tolentino at jtolentino@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200, x.com/JCTSports and instagram.com/JCTSports. Ravens kicker Tyler Loop reacts after missing a potential game-winning field goal against the Steelers. Baltimore's 2025-26 season ends with a disappointing 8-9 record. (Matt Durisko/AP) View the full article Quote
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