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PITTSBURGH — The Ravens’ season came to a crushing end when rookie kicker Tyler Loop’s 44-yard attempt to win the game sailed well right. Their 26-24 loss to the hated Pittsburgh Steelers featured gut-roiling twists, a terribly unlucky injury to Kyle Hamilton and gallant play from Lamar Jackson.

But, for all the drama, the painful ending — this time short of the playoffs — felt too familiar. Here are six things we learned about where the Ravens might be headed after a colossally discouraging 2025.

This season was disappointing enough that Steve Bisciotti needs to reconsider everything.

The Ravens’ season began with a deflating collapse against the same Buffalo Bills who’d sent them packing from the playoffs eight months earlier. It grew more dire as defensive calamities, offensive stagnation and debilitating injuries produced a 1-5 start that shocked fans and pundits who’d picked this team to get over its Super Bowl hump.

The Ravens still had enough talent and winning DNA to claw out of that chasm, improbably pushing their season to a winner-take-all showdown against their most enduring rival. That battle — a maddening, wonderful Ravens-Steelers classic — lived up to the hype. But there was no romance in it for a team sick to death of losing this way.

“Let’s be legendary,” Jackson told his teammates before the final drive that ended with Loop’s miss.

Afterward, he and the team’s other leaders were left to confront the hard reality that they never got there, never sniffed the greatness so many foresaw. They were designed to win the Super Bowl, not to come up a game short of even having a shot at it.

“Obviously, the way this team is built, and the actual reality of it and the guys that we have, [we] know that playoffs is not enough,” linebacker Roquan Smith said. “I’m aware of that, and I’m sure anybody that’s real with themselves is aware of that, as well.”

This team fell just short of the playoffs but well short of lofty preseason ambitions. Despite the best efforts of players and coaches, it never resembled the juggernaut we saw during the best stretches of 2023 and 2024. Instead of flirting with the top of the mountain, the Ravens tumbled down it, leaving fans to wonder if it’s time to start over.

Bisciotti, as measured a thinker as you’ll ever encounter atop a major American sports franchise, has to be wondering the same.

Failure on this scale touches every central figure involved, from coach John Harbaugh to general manager Eric DeCosta to the franchise quarterback, Jackson.

If Bisciotti gives those three men another year at the reins of his franchise, will they produce a substantially better result? Or has this version of the Ravens done all it can, disappointing as that would be to accept?

Harbaugh is the most obvious potential casualty. His harshest critics, who were eager to jettison the winningest coach in franchise history after each of the past two seasons, don’t seem to grasp that the rest of the NFL views Harbaugh as one of the sport’s most trustworthy program builders. If he is done in Baltimore, he’ll rocket to the top of search lists in other cities.

That said, even those who hold Harbaugh in high esteem have to acknowledge that sometimes a coaching change is necessary to shock a team out of its rut. The Ravens have never stopped playing hard for Harbaugh, but they also have not broken the self-defeating habits that have cost them in showdowns with their top rivals.

Bisciotti will have to weigh the disappointments against his deep belief in Harbaugh, the defining hire he has made during his stewardship of the Ravens. He’ll also have to decide if there’s a potential replacement who excites him in a seemingly underwhelming pool of candidates. Setting aside the moral tests posed by Ray Rice and Justin Tucker, this potential coaching change might be the most difficult dilemma Bisciotti has faced as owner.

We also have to consider that this is a two-way street. Perhaps Harbaugh, who signed a lucrative three-year contract extension after last season, is tired of bashing his head against the same wall and would see potential fulfillment in a fresh start. His former boss, Andy Reid, found it in moving from Philadelphia to Kansas City.

Asked after the game if he’d like to take another shot with the same core, Harbaugh said: “Yes, I love these guys. I love these guys.”

Players such as left tackle Ronnie Stanley and running back Derrick Henry said they love Harbaugh back, but they stopped short of outright calling for his return. Jackson, who hugged the only NFL head coach he has ever played for, was asked directly about Harbaugh’s future.

“You’re asking me about next year,” he replied. “I’m so caught up in what just happened tonight. I can’t focus on that right now.”

Even if Harbaugh returns, his top staff would almost certainly be overhauled.

Offensive coordinator Todd Monken is a good coach who helped Jackson reach new heights and still whips out creative play designs. Even in this most frustrating of seasons, the Ravens entered Sunday’s game 10th in the league in yards per play and first in rushing.

But Monken’s offense was the most explosive in the league a year ago and simply has not lived up to that standard. Jackson’s injuries played a significant part in that decline, but the Ravens have also turned the ball over too often (23 giveaways, up from 11 last season), struggled to sustain drives (314 first downs, down from 393 last season) and fallen apart in the red zone (47.5% touchdowns, down from a league-best 74.2% in 2024). Their decision not to use Henry after they went up 11 in a must-win game against the New England Patriots reflected well on no one.

Add to that the frustrations some players expressed anonymously after the team’s 1-5 start and it’s not hard to imagine the Ravens trying to freshen their offense with a different coordinator.

After six weeks, no one would have thought defensive coordinator Zach Orr might end the season with more job security than Monken. His defense seemed unprepared to start the season, just as it had in 2024. That’s a mark against the former Ravens linebacker, who failed to take the second-year leap that made his friend and predecessor, Mike Macdonald, such a hot head coaching candidate.

On the other hand, key players have consistently spoken up for Orr, he has fixed problems in season, and he had to work around ridiculously poor injury luck. The shutout his group delivered in Cincinnati was a season highlight.

Then his defense regressed over the last three games against New England, Green Bay and Pittsburgh, casting Orr’s future with the Ravens back into question.

It seems far less likely Bisciotti would move on from DeCosta, whose Ravens roots run even deeper than Harbaugh’s. But the general manager needs to answer for what has not worked with this roster, especially his handling of the offensive line and his inability to draft a dominant edge rusher.

And then there’s the question that overshadows every other: Do the Ravens double down on devoting an enormous chunk of their salary cap to the mercurial quarterback around whom everything revolves?

The Ravens need to erase all doubts that Lamar Jackson is their franchise player for the future.

This was a no-brainer coming out of last season, when Jackson threw 41 touchdowns against just four interceptions and made a compelling case to win his third Most Valuable Player trophy. When he’s healthy, happy and clicking, there’s no more exhilarating NFL frontman. That version of Jackson is a player the Ravens, and 31 other teams, would do anything to keep.

But this season has been a reminder that, when he’s hampered by injuries (a strained hamstring, ankle and knee pains, most recently a back bruise) and his team isn’t winning, Jackson becomes a more perplexing figure. Some of this is our inevitable (often irrational) impulse to obsess over the best player when the larger machine is sputtering.

Does Jackson devote enough attention to his craft in the offseason and during the practice week? Does he fight through injuries as gamely as other elite quarterbacks? Fair or not, fans and analysts ask these questions. Jackson is not generally interested in verbally sparring with his doubters, so the aspersions they cast simply hang in the air.

Last week, he laughed off reports of him falling asleep in meetings after late-night gaming sessions. He said unequivocally that he wants to remain in Baltimore. That will not stop speculation about his potential offseason of discontent.

Remember, we were here before. Jackson did not finish the 2022 season because of a knee injury. He and the Ravens’ offense had played unevenly that year and the year before. As he headed for free agency, we had no idea if he even wanted to remain in the city to which he’d promised a Super Bowl win.

In fact, Jackson publicly requested a trade one month before he signed the extension on which he’s currently playing.

The Ravens have reached another crossroads with their most important player at the end of an even more disappointing season. DeCosta doesn’t want Jackson’s $74.5 million cap hit on his balance sheet for next season, so he has incentive to negotiate an extension over the next few months. But does Jackson feel that same urgency? Or is he again wondering if the grass might be greener in some other NFL city?

The Ravens have to do everything in their power to make sure these questions do not fester, because Jackson just reminded us that he’s still the singular talent who makes this team special. He kept the Ravens alive with a string of dazzling plays, wiggling away from Pittsburgh’s fearsome pass rushers and firing downfield with abandon.

Jackson will turn 29 this week. A new extension would probably take him at least to age 32. Injuries made him reluctant to run and seemingly robbed him of his passing touch for chunks of this season. If his struggles were less an aberration than a preview of rocky seasons ahead, it’s not insane to wonder if the Ravens might quietly explore the trade market while Jackson is still viewed as one of the NFL’s greatest talents.

Real talk, though — it would be insane, because just one year ago, Jackson played quarterback as well as anyone in Baltimore football history (and that covers some ground). On Sunday night, he did everything he could to drag the Ravens across the finish line, throwing two long touchdown passes in the fourth quarter and putting Loop in position to win the game.

You don’t walk away from an athlete who can do that. You try every possibility to help him regain his brilliance, whether that means fresh coaching, more reliable blocking or an outside target to complement Zay Flowers and Mark Andrews.

The Ravens have tailored so much of their operation to Jackson’s talents and desires, leading to questions and frustrations when he’s not at his best. But you have to bet big on special people, because you never know when your next chance might come.

Counting on a cheap offensive line was Eric DeCosta’s original team-building sin.

Another big game, another rough night for Ravens guards Andrew Vorhees and Daniel Faalele, who allowed Pittsburgh defensive tackles Keeanu Benton and Cam Heyward to rampage for nine tackles combined in the first half.

Meanwhile, holding penalties by the Ravens’ two best linemen, left tackle Ronnie Stanley and center Tyler Linderbaum, derailed drives in the second quarter.

As a result, the offense that blitzkrieged to an opening touchdown could not string together more than two first downs on any of its next four possessions. Jackson attempted just six passes before halftime, in part because the Ravens fed Henry but also because he had to flee from danger almost every time he dropped back.

To be fair, DeCosta prioritized re-signing Stanley in the offseason, and that has worked well enough, despite Stanley playing through ankle pain. Right tackle Roger Rosengarten, the team’s second-round pick in 2024, has played well enough recently to redeem a disappointing start. Linderbaum just made his third Pro Bowl.

That’s three-fifths of a functional offensive line.

The rub is that Vorhees and Faalele played poorly enough, if not every week then certainly in their worst weeks, to undermine the whole.

Taken case by case, it’s understandable that DeCosta opted not to bring back veteran Kevin Zeitler after the 2023 season and did not outbid Jacksonville to keep Patrick Mekari last offseason.

But on the whole he waved goodbye to a lot of dependability and versatility, betting that Faalele and Vorhees, both on rookie contracts, would develop enough to keep interior blocking from becoming a weakness.

It hasn’t worked.

Faalele is not as awful, especially not as a pass blocker, as his harshest critics would have us believe. His worst reps look as bad as anyone’s; his overall grades point to mere below-average performance.

As a run blocker, Faalele has never managed to use his massive frame to become a consistent body mover. He’s headed for free agency, and the Ravens need to use this opportunity to upgrade, whether with 2025 third-round pick Emery Jones (who lost much of his rookie year to injury) or a new addition.

The same is true with Vorhees, who couldn’t hold a starting job last season and was arguably the worst offensive performer in the Ravens’ crucial loss to the Patriots. He has another year left on his rookie deal but should be a backup in 2026.

The largest team-building concern is Linderbaum’s impending free agency. With Jackson’s extension looming, it’s fair to wonder if the Ravens can afford to pay their 2022 first-round pick almost $20 million a year, the going rate to reset the center market. But, if they don’t give Linderbaum his just reward, they’ll lose their most reliable building block for the next three or four years and add another glaring need to their shopping list.

They have to treat improving the offensive line as intrinsic to their future investment in Jackson. He took too much punishment this season, eating 33 sacks in 12 games, compared to 23 in 17 games the year before. Meanwhile, Henry was hit earlier on average, making it harder for him to break explosive gains.

It’s cliché to say a dominant offense starts in the trenches. That doesn’t make it untrue.

The Ravens don’t have enough talent on the edge.

The Steelers’ edge defenders — T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, Nick Herbig — did what they usually do in this rivalry, making plays that turned the tide, punishing Ravens blockers for their mistakes.

“It’s not a team you want to be behind schedule with,” Linderbaum said. “They’ve got good rushers.”

Pittsburgh’s defensive ferocity highlighted the lack of corresponding oomph from the Ravens’ pass rush, which did precious little to disturb 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers as he guided three touchdown drives in the second half.

Yes, Rodgers neutralized the Baltimore pass rush with quick throws to running back Kenneth Gainwell, a plan that worked especially well after safety Kyle Hamilton left the game with a concussion. But this wasn’t a one-game failure. The Ravens were vulnerable to comebacks all season, because they did not have the playmakers to disrupt top quarterbacks (or even former top quarterbacks such as Rodgers).

DeCosta has long said there’s no such thing as an overabundance of talented defensive backs. He has backed those words with action, using first-round picks on a cornerback or safety in 2022, 2024 and 2025.

Hamilton is the team’s best defensive player and a genuine candidate to follow Ray Lewis and Ed Reed to the Hall of Fame. Nate Wiggins has been the Ravens’ best cornerback in his second season out of Clemson. Rookie Malaki Starks looks like he’ll be a long-term starter at worst. So the draft investment has paid off.

What every defender will tell you, however, is that great coverage depends on a robust pass rush. The Ravens entered Sunday’s game tied for 30th in the league in sacks and 23rd in pressure rate. Again and again, we have seen them fail to make top quarterbacks uncomfortables.

It’s not that DeCosta sat idle. He used a second-round pick on Mike Green, who accumulated valuable reps but could not translate preseason flashes of pass-rushing dominance to the regular season. The GM traded for Dre’Mont Jones, a fierce, versatile veteran who immediately became the team’s most productive rusher.

At the same time, he traded Odafe Oweh for safety help, essentially declaring that the Ravens had seen enough of their 2021 first-round pick. David Ojabo, once regarded as a first-round talent, never overcame the injuries that stunted his development. Kyle Van Noy, such a bargain in 2023 and 2024, finally lost steam at age 34.

The Ravens did draft, develop and re-sign a standout interior pass rusher in Nnamdi Madubuike. His serious neck injury was both awful news for an admirable young athlete and devastating to the team’s roster construction.

The upshot is that the Ravens do not have enough talent at one of the NFL’s premium positions. They don’t have a consistent track record of identifying star pass rushers in the draft, and it’s not clear they have the resources to sign or trade for a double-digit sack producer such as the Raiders’ Maxx Crosby or the Bengals’ Trey Hendrickson.

For years, wide receiver was the position DeCosta and his scouting staff simply could not crack. As they prepare for another crucial draft, it’s fair to wonder if the defensive edge is the problem that confounds them most.

The Ravens are still searching for Justin Tucker’s replacement.

Loop had not truly been tested all year, not like this. Season on the line, Terrible Towels waving, pressure impinging on long-practiced technique.

These were the moments Tucker met during his 2012 rookie season and so often through his 13 years with the Ravens. Loop had made 30 of his first 33 NFL field goal attempts, but could he make the 34th, which outweighed all the others?

He went through the steps he has practiced hundreds of times over the last eight months, but then his right foot caught too much of the ground, preventing him from striking the ball cleanly. His decisive kick never had a chance, and he knew it immediately.

Teammates did their best to comfort him. Loop’s holder, Jordan Stout, said no one can understand how agonizingly hard it is to execute routine movements under that kind of pressure.

“That wasn’t how it was supposed to go,” he said, clearly hurting for his young teammate.

“Ten years from now, when he’s the best in the league, he’ll look back on this as the moment that made him,” Stout said.

Hopeful words for a kicker who has every tool needed to thrive. Loop might yet become a true replacement for Tucker, but his miss in Pittsburgh set that quest back to square one. That’s the unforgiving reality of his position.

The Ravens will probably bring in another kicker to compete with him next summer, and if he’s not fully recovered from the mental shock of this failure, he could lose his job. It happened to Billy Cundiff, who couldn’t hold off Tucker the year after his devastating AFC championship game miss against the Patriots.

“No one should have to start his rookie year like this,” Stout said.