The Baltimore Ravens lost the AFC North title game on Sunday night in heartbreaking fashion. Ravens rookie kicker Tyler Loop missed a field goal as time was expiring to put them up 27-26. While that missed kick will be what most blame for the loss, Baltimore’s defense played terribly in the second half. This led one former NFL player to call out the defense on Monday morning.
Dan Orlovsky Calls Out Ravens Defensive Meltdown
On Monday morning’s episode of Get Up, the crew discussed Sunday night’s loss, and Dan Orlovsky did not mince words when evaluating Baltimore’s defense. Breaking down the decisive touchdown drive, Orlovsky pointed to a mental lapse in coverage that ultimately sealed the Ravens’ fate.
“What happens is they start that drive, and you could just see [Chidobe] Awuzie starting to get nosy. And sit just a little bit and having eyes back to the quarterback. I promise you, there was a conversation of quarterback to receiver, Hey, let’s double move him. It’s third and ten, he’s going to sit at the sticks, he drives the slip helps, and then it was a touchdown… This was a total choke job by the Ravens’ defense.”
“This was a total choke job by the Ravens’ defense.”
—@danorlovsky7 👀 pic.twitter.com/BtVzrmfXKs
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) January 5, 2026
Orlovsky isn’t wrong about this being a choke job by the Ravens’ defense. Even though the Steelers had chances to score in the first half, Baltimore held them to just three points. The second half was a completely different story with Pittsburgh scoring 23 points, 13 of which came in the fourth quarter.
On the other side of the ball, Lamar Jackson delivered arguably his most clutch performance of the 2025 season in the second half. Jackson consistently made plays to keep Baltimore in the game, putting the Ravens in position to win despite the defense unraveling around him. The fact that his efforts were ultimately wasted only adds to the frustration surrounding the loss.
As Damian Woody noted during the segment, Baltimore’s defense noticeably changed once Kyle Hamilton left the game due to injury. Despite Hamilton being the glue of the Ravens’ defense, falling apart in the biggest moment of the season is completely unacceptable.
This offseason, Baltimore must find some answers in the pass rush department.
Baltimore’s failure to pressure quarterbacks the entire season is what put them in a must-win scenario in Week 18 in the first place. Fixing this issue will mask some of the problems the Ravens had in their secondary this season.
