Ravens Star Predicted to Fall Short vs. Chiefs

The Baltimore Ravens' underwhelming playoff results directly tie back to their tendency to occasionally come up short in marquee matchups, and the public has turned on this current version of the team's questionable big game reliability quicker than they ever have before.

Early losses to fellow contenders in the Buffalo Bills and the Detroit Lions have set the Ravens up for a big-time showdown against the Kansas City Chiefs, who they're set to visit in Week 4. And despite answering the higher preseason stakes with a more impressive offseason team-building performance, both teams sit at unimpressive 1-2 records, and many are done siding with the continually-disappointing favorites in Baltimore.

3x Super Bowl MVP and Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is the doubts against Lamar Jackson personified, the player he needs to beat in order to win over a portion of the NFL viewing audience who remains unconvinced that the Ravens star can hang with the best of the best.

He's 1-5 against the greatest player of his generation, failing to come up with a win in their last two matchups in the AFC championship game two seasons ago and last season's opener. Mahomes always seems to get the better of his AFC rivals, and nothing's expected to change against the Ravens following the 2025 Chiefs' finally sealing their first win last week.

CBS Sports' Garrett Podell cut Mahomes no slack in running through his numerous statistical shortcomings to start the fall.

"He's thrown for the worst completion (59%), yards per pass attempt (6.4) and fewest passing touchdowns (3) through three games in his career," he wrote.

"His inaccuracy has him leading the NFL with 22 off-target incompletions this season, which are also his most in a three-game span in career, per Pro Football Focus. That's why the Chiefs are averaging their fewest points per game (20.0), total yards per game (315.7) and yards/play (5.2) through three games since 2018, Mahomes' first season as a full-time starter."