The Baltimore Ravens have been the NFL’s most pathetic chokers throughout Lamar Jackson’s tenure with the team, dating back to 2018.

Even by their lowly standards, giving up 35 unanswered points to the Bengals in the second half is a new low for general manager Eric DeCosta (ties worst in franchise history), the one constant in all those heartless losses that now span seven coordinators and two head coaches after Sunday’s epic meltdown.

DeCosta’s rosters have done it with regularity and reckless abandon many, many times with the two-time MVP on the field, and without him, it feels almost inevitable. Rookie head coach Jesse Minter – yet to prove he is remotely ready to run a sideline and call a defense at the same time – blew a double-digit lead for the fourth time in seven games, and lost doing so two weeks in a row; Minter is a master at this, doing it twice at home already this season and three times in 2026.

Minter’s feeble scheme and weak-minded players blew a 13-0 lead Sunday as Joe Burrow destroyed them like lesser QBs like Tyler Shough and Cam Ward have in the past. The Ravens now have lost 17 games with a double-digit lead since 2019, Minter has proven to be far more adroit and adept at it than anyone else, the fraud GM who builds these awful defenses year after year got platitudes from the owner when coach John Harbaugh was fired, and this 35-13 loss at M&T Bank Stadium is as ugly as any of them, even if it was Snoop Huntley at QB.

Imagine getting DeCosta-ed now at 17 times-and-running in this short a period of time and thinking swapping out a veteran staff for a bunch of rookies coaches who are younger and cheaper and way more malleable was going to fix Baltimore’s clear, systemic problems of which DeCosta and team president Sashi Brown are prevailing culprits. Oh well. Steve Bisciotti has been yammering about selling the team for years. Maybe they will finally get a real GM in charge then.

The Ravens (4-3, last in AFC North) have won three times in their last 10 home games, they are remarkably devoid of anything approximating a true playmaker on defense, Minter’s scheme has been an utter failure in the second half and they face Josh Allen in Buffalo off a bye next week. Jackson returning might not be enough.

Choke Gene Is Their Dominant Gene

The Ravens dominated the first half but didn’t have enough to show for it, stalling twice deep in Bengals’ territory and settling for field goals. They built a 13-0 lead into the half but settled for three after an 18-play, 78-yard march that took 11 minutes off the clock and stalled at the 16. And then went 13 plays and 82 yards on their next drive, taking six minutes off the clock and reaching the 6 before settling for three. Six offensive penalties in the first half – including four false starts and a delay of game – led to some of that stalling out.

It’s truly pathetic what must go on in the Ravens locker room during halftime with a big lead. They ceded momentum in the second half like they can’t wait to hand a game away. It’s staggering, really, but it’s their brand. Sunday they wasted no time swinging the tenor of the game after owning the Bengals in the first half and holding the ball for nearly 23 minutes.

How’s this sequence – Burrow carves them up in the underneath passing game for a TD drive to make it 13-7, Ravens offensive line gets swallowed up again on the next drive with a three-and-out that ends on a sack and then a huge return on the ensuing punt that forces the long-snapper to make a tackle.

And that was followed up by Baltimore’s secondary getting absolutely carved up – and no semblance of a pass rush – on Cincy’s second drive of the second half, this capping it with a TD pass to Tee Higgins to make it 14-13. Burrow was 9/10 for 100 yards and two TD passes on the first two drives of the second half.

Baltimore’s tackling was once against atrocious in the second half, even Kyle Hamilton fell prey to it several times including on a TD run (Marlon Humphrey, a $19M corner, made an even bigger a mockery of “tackling”’ the net drive), and this team will have to win shootouts when Jackson returns because the defense is just as fraudulent in 2026 as it was in 2025 and 2024.

Burrow was 16/18 with four TD passes and a perfect 158.3 rating in the second half. Joe Flacco got to play the final four minutes in this debacle.

Minter Looks Overwhelmed

Minter has been fairly atrocious in the second half of games and seems to be suffering trying to run the team and call the defense at the same time. He also has become a big part of Baltimore’s choking tendencies and it’s in his head now, too, and he made a failed decision to open the fourth quarter that blew up in his face.

 Minter opted to eschew a chip shot field goal to re-take the lead after having a full timeout at the end of the quarter to think about it. If he really thinks his defense is any good – and its one of the worst in the NFL in the second half – he grabs the lead.

 Instead, they had the back-up attempt a pass on fourth and two and it fell woefully incomplete and never had a chance of working. And Burrow went right back to picking apart this secondary with short passes, and when he did have to step away from pressure he found Tee Higgins for 40 yards.

He entered this game with a bottom five second half defense in points per drive and points allowed and pressure rating and sacks, and hit new lows Sunday. He has made no adjustments and has no answers and his players with the Chargers were better than DeCosta’s bloated mess of a roster; his defenses there were never this bad.

Interior Offensive Line Still Stinks

Overpaying in a desperate trade for Cam Jurgens, while in concussion protocol no less, wasn’t likely to fix much overnight. And it didn’t. Baltimore could not operate the under-center rushing game, Derrick Henry remains an ineffective running back on the inside – like all season – but also now on the outside as linebackers sell out to take away outside zone and whack Henry behind the line of scrimmage before he gets going.

Henry ended up with 17 carries for 46 yards and an unthinkable 2.6 yards/carry average..  He once again was a non-factor on short-yardage plays and the return of Jackson may open up the run game some for sure, but Henry has been a blow-average back, at age 32 he needs major help from the line, and rookie guard-center-guard Vega Ioane was ruled out in the first half with a knee injury.

It’s A Shame About Trey

Look one guy can’t muster a pass rush all on his own, but when you give an oft-injured, older pass rusher who isn’t good against the run $30M a year to just rush the passer, dude needs to make some big plays. But DeCosta – a failure at quite a bit but especially pass rush and offensive line construction – doesn’t find those guys and Hendrickson’s revenge game was a dud.

Hendrickson is well removed from the hand procedure he underwent and he did get close to Burrow a time or two early in the game but Baltimore’s second-half defense has been a joke because the overrated corners and safeties never touch the football and their defensive front never gets home. Hendrickson was lauded as a ”closer” but hasn’t sniffed a QB in the fourth quarter in his Ravens career (Bengals have the NFL’s best fourth-quarter pressure rate without him) and Burrow cough laugh in this defensive line’s face the entire second half.

They couldn’t make him flinch. Hendrickson has two sacks all season and just two pressures in this game and the Ravens had an inept 22% pressure rate, which will get you destroyed by a QB like this, and especially when coupled with what has to be one of the weakest secondaries in the NFL.

The Ravens cornerbacks and safeties still have not picked a pass off all season.

Yackety, YAC, Don’t Look Back

First half was fun!  Rookie coordinator Declan Doyle had to be more creative in his use of screen passes to get pass catchers involved knowing the vertical threat of the offense would be quite limited. And he leaned into it in a robust way from the opening plays of the game. Well done.

He set up tight end Josh Cuevas to block and release and rumble after the catch. He set it screens for Justice Hill that were sorely lacking in Cleveland, he called another Pony Package pass (Hill and Derrick Henry on the field together) for Henry to pick up a first down through the air and he got back to utilizing Zay Flowers repeatedly from the backfield in a creative manner.

Slip screens and bubble screens behind the line of scrimmage had to be the norm with the Bengals interior defensive line taking away middle runs and under-center options inside, and Doyle dialed it up. Huntley was 4/4 throwing behind the line of scrimmage in the first half for 83 yards and a 48-yard TD to Flowers.

When Huntley threw between 0-5 yards downfield in the first half he was 7/8 for 75 yards. Attacking the perimeter would be everything and it was. Flowers had 120 yards receiving in the first half, and 97 of it came on YAC including another house-call.

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