Ravens Surrender to Steelers in Season's Most Brutal Loss

A Collapse Within a Rally

That final series was everything about the 2025 Ravens (6-7) in a rapid-fire sequence of dramatic ups and downs. The occasional instances of jaw-dropping excellence sandwiched by costly mistakes and a lack of close-ability, which all but doom them with four weeks remaining in the regular season's schedule.

Jackson did look closer to his old athletic self over recent weeks, even if he wasn't as sharp as some of those lasting glimpses will have us remember. One particularly ugly underthrown interception highlighted some of the recent concerns that his physically diminished self can't lead the team to consistent success.

And yet, Jackson's legs were much more of a presence in this one, as he accounted for a rushing and passing touchdown to break a scoreless stretch of games. He took off seven times for 43 yards on the ground, breaking off for one designed run while successfully displaying that one-of-one knack for extending plays that's defined his method for surviving broken pockets through improvisation.

But right when Baltimore's scoring scheme started to look up, the defense at the other end of the seesaw came crashing back down to their early-season woes.

Aaron Rodgers turned in his strongest passing performance in months in the Steelers' (7-6) win, benefitting from Ravens defenders all across the field. The lack of a threatening pass-rush gave him plenty of time to hone downfield connection with DK Metcalf, whom he connected on several deep bombs with at the expense of Baltimore's slower defensive backs.

Nagging Errors

On the Ravens' own receiving end, Zay Flowers particularly struggled before a few late catches salvaged his outing. He headlined a wideout room that contributed even more of those familiar costly mistakes that most recently held the Ravens back on Thanksgiving, inexplicably stepping out of bounds in attempting to secure a catch a few minutes later, right before another pass simply squirted free from his hands.

That bad case of the drops plagued the Ravens all across the outing, with another Isaiah Likely drop likely haunting Baltimorians more than anything else. He came down with a touchdown catch within those final few minutes, his second of the day, but suffered another slip-up when the ball was knocked loose before he could make another "football move," as CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore explained.

Those final few minutes, as well as the game that surrounded that sack, made for a brutal way to fall even further out of the playoff hunt.

Back-to-back losses against the Cincinnati Bengals and Steelers have doomed their chances of returning to the postseason dance, barring a miracle. Instead of building on their lead in securing the AFC's No. 4 seed, they now face a dark, winding road entering what looks to be their final month of football.