Following the Ravens’ 27-20 Week 1 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, they needed to bounce back and had a good opportunity to do just that against the Las Vegas Raiders.
That is not how things played out, though. Baltimore let a 23-13 fourth-quarter lead slip away, eventually suffering its second straight loss (26-23) and falling to 0-2.
While starting the season 0-2 is not ideal, there is still plenty of season left to turn things around and get back to the postseason.
Unfortunately for the Ravens, that’s something they have yet to do.
According to NFL Research, Baltimore, which is now 0-2 for the first time since 2015, has never made the playoffs after starting a season 0-2.
However, head coach John Harbaugh isn’t ready to throw in the towel quite yet.
“We define our season,” Harbaugh said, via Bobby Kownack of NFL.com. “We’re not going to be defined by everybody’s that gonna say that we’re not any good, that we’re done, that the season’s over after two games. That’s what’s gonna be said. We understand that. But they’re not here. They’re not inside, and no one inside’s gonna say that.”
It has proven to be very difficult to make the playoffs after a slow start.
“Since the NFL playoffs expanded to 14 teams in 2020, 32 franchises have started the season 0-2,” The Baltimore Sun’s Bennett Conlin wrote. “Only two of those 32 teams (6.25%) — Cincinnati in 2022 and Houston in 2023 — made the postseason. Just five of the 32 teams finished the season with a winning record.”
Despite the odds, Baltimore is still confident to do what it has never done.
Why?
Because it simply doesn’t believe it’s a 0-2 team.
“Disappointing loss,” Harbaugh added. “Tough loss. Could have gone our way for sure, but we didn’t get the job done. 0-2. We are gonna play a 17-game season, and we will be defined by the next 15 games. So that’s gonna be our objective to play the best 15 games we can, be the best football team we can be. If we do that we’re going to have a really good season and have a shot to win a lot of games and get in the playoffs and make a run. So that’s what we have to do big picture.”
Things aren’t getting any easier for the Ravens, who take on the Dallas Cowboys (1-1), Buffalo Bills (2-0) and Cincinnati Bengals (0-2) in the next three weeks.
