Ravens coaching staff failed team with offensive game plan

A lot of things went wrong for the Baltimore Ravens in their 17-10 AFC Championship loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. The performance of their coaching staff is near the top of the list. 

Even though the Ravens made their share of mistakes on the field — from bad, undisciplined penalties to red zone turnovers — their coaching staff did nothing to put them in a position for success offensively. 

Head coach John Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Todd Monken were outmatched and outclassed every step of the way by Andy Reid and Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, and it was one of the biggest factors in the result. 

The most glaring example of the Ravens' game plan flaw was the way they completely abandoned the running game at the first sign of struggle.

Baltimore finished the game with just 16 rushing attempts, and eight of them belonged to quarterback Lamar Jackson, mostly on scrambles. 

They attempted just eight designed runs to running backs or wide receivers, including only three for running back Gus Edwards. He averaged six yards per carry on those attempts. 

It was also not a case of the Ravens facing a huge deficit and needing to try and throw their way back into the game. They never trailed by more than 10 points at any time in the game. It was always close. 

Along with completely abandoning the run, their passing plays seemingly played right into the strength of Kansas City's defense. 

Instead of trying to exploit the Chiefs' blitz-happy defense with quick passes and screens, the Ravens kept trying to look downfield with slow developing plays. 

That allowed the Chiefs to harass Jackson all day, sacking him four times and consistently pressuring him. 

The Chiefs finished the regular season with No. 4 ranked passing defense in the NFL and limited Miami and Buffalo's offense's to just 374 yards (combined) in their first two playoff games. They are built to get at the quarterback and stop the pass. 

No team in the league ran for more yards than the Ravens this season. None of that seemed to matter to the Ravens' coaching staff when they faced even an ounce of adversity. 

The Chiefs were the better team on the field.

They also had the better coaching staff on the sidelines.