Over the last five years, the Baltimore Ravens have undeniably been one of the best and most consistently good teams in the NFL. They have made the playoffs in four of those seasons, and have a 2x NFL MVP at quarterback in Lamar Jackson that has led them to plenty of wins in that time span. However, there is one stat that continues to haunt Baltimore in the Jackson era, and that is their inability to finish football games.
According to NFL Stats, the Ravens have 10 losses with a 7+ point lead in the 4th quarter, which is the most in the NFL over the last half decade. The closest team to them in this woeful category is the Chicago Bears, who have six such losses in that time, still far behind the Ravens.
While the Ravens have had more success than many NFL franchises over that span, they also have shot themselves in the foot so much that they have zero championships to show for it.
The latest such occurrence was this past Sunday, when Baltimore took a 23-13 lead in the 4th quarter against a far weaker opponent in the Las Vegas Raiders. The Ravens were 8.5-point favorites, expected to dominate their opponent at home coming off a loss to the reigning Super Bowl champion Chiefs by just a toe drag. It seemed to be going pretty smoothly, that is until once again they showed that they can’t close out a game.
Las Vegas scored 13 unanswered points, winning 26-23, as the Ravens totally collapsed on defense and could do nothing on offense in the last 12 minutes of the game. This is despite outgaining the Raiders by over 100 yards in the contest, 383 to 260. In a majority of these losses stretching back to 2019, Baltimore has played better than their opponent but found a way to lose.
This was the first time the Raiders have managed to come back from a 10+ point deficit in the 4th quarter in 49 straight games. Unfortunately for Baltimore, these kinds of losses are what has been holding them back for a while now, and they find themselves in an 0-2 hole early in the 2024 season. They have the talent to make the playoffs still, and with their track record for it, they probably will.
However, they can’t get over the championship hump until they start learning to finish games in clutch time. I’m not sure what exactly is needed to do that, but that task is charged to Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, who has been the voice in the locker room since 2008. He’s one of the best coaches of his time, compiling a 160-101 record with a Super Bowl in 2012. Still, the rumor mill is going to start churning after this latest blown lead.
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