Championship Sunday was mesmerizing and exhilarating for the winning fanbase, while it was agonizing and cruel torture for the losers. After the dust settles, the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers are the teams left to contest Super Bowl LVIII. There is enough time to analyze these two teams and make predictions before the big game. Therefore, we will discuss three critical areas in how the Ravens and Lions lost the Lamar Hunt and George Halas Conference Championship trophies. We will also briefly discuss their future in the aftermath of their losses.
Baltimore Ravens
1. Stylistic Problems- in 2023, Lamar Jackson improved his ability to throw the football. The secret to his success was the defense had a hard time stopping the run, which made the passing game deadly. In the regular season, the Ravens were the top rushing team in the league with 541 rushes, 2661 yards, and 26 touchdowns. It means they ranked first, first, and 4th statistically in those categories. It means they averaged nearly 32 touches and 157 yards per game. However, in the championship game, the team rushed only 16 times for 81 yards. Instead, Jackson completed 20 of 37 passes for 272 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. If it was a game that Baltimore was trailing by two or three touchdowns, it would make sense the disparity was so great. However, the Ravens were down by only 10 points, and yet the offense would not stay patient with the run game. I think the Ravens lost their way because they forgot their style of play.
2. Out-coached by the Chiefs- the Ravens seemed to forget their identity because Andy Reid, and Steve Spagnuolo seem to out-coach their Ravens counterpart. Andy Reid had a plan for the Chiefs to come out aggressive and try to grab a lead. The Chiefs succeeded by grabbing the 14-7 lead on back-to-back touchdown drives. Then, the Chiefs baited Lamar Jackson into throwing the football and lost their patience to run the football. Jackson felt for the trap by holding on to the ball in the pocket, and led to a strip sack and errant throws down the field. Jackson should have instead looked to run the football, and the coaches should have schemed design runs to play to their strengths. The Ravens never trailed in many games in the regular season, and they looked ill-prepared to mount a comeback in the biggest game of the year.
3. Bad Penalties and Mistakes- the Ravens’ struggled in the game were compounded by bad penalties and turnovers. The Ravens gave up eight penalties that yielded 95 yards, compared to the Chiefs 3 penalties for 30 yards. It was not just the margin but chunk penalties in key situations. One penalty involved Kyle Van Noy thumping Travis Kelce’s helmet, that drew an unnecessary roughness penalty that gave the Chiefs a free 15 yards. Two roughing-the-passer penalties extended drives and negated an interception. Zay Flowers showed his inexperience as a rookie by catching a 54-yard pass and then wiping out 15 yards due to a taunting penalty. Moments later, L’Jarius Sneed had his revenge as he punched out the ball from Flowers’ grasp right at the goal line to erase a potential touchdown. Finally, Lamar threw a ball into triple coverage intended for Isiah Likely and intercepted by Deon Bush.
The Ravens chose the wrong time to play their worst game of the season. The coaches and players should collectively take the blame for the loss. However, Lamar Jackson will carry the burden because he wasted the opportunity with home-field advantage and the better roster slip to lose this game to Patrick Mahomes. Moreover, I think they will have a tough task to return to this stage next season because the AFC will be another gauntlet next season.
Detroit Lions
1. Forgetting the run game- it feels like the Ravens’ downfall, and the Lions were the same- they forgot to run the ball. It might be worse for the Lions because they had the lead 24-7 and got the massive lead by tallying 148 rushing yards in the first half. The Lions failed to preserve the lead by running the football in the second half. Instead, they rushed for only 34 yards. On the other hand, the 49ers showed the running game was vital in their comeback by rushing for 61 yards in the second half to finish with 90 rushing yards and 42 receiving yards. Moreover, Brock Purdy did the gdamage in the game with his legs by scampering for 48 yards on fivw scrambles. Yes, it’s a simple formula-the team that runs the ball dictates tempo, tires out the defense, and is in a better position to win.
2. Execution on pivotal plays- the Lions ranked 2nd in the regular season in attempts on fourth down with 40 tries. However, they- were successful 52.5% of the time and are ranked 13th in the league based on their conversion. Therefore, it was no surprise that Dan Campbell played aggressively by going on fourth down in situations where the conventional wisdom suggested that they should kick the field goal or punt. Fans may feel he made the wrong decisions, but he was let down by his players. In one play, Josh Reynolds dropped an easy pass to prevent the conversion while Jared Goff made a bad under-throw which negated the attempt. I think Campbell’s aggression matches what he did all season, but the execution was lacking.
3. One bad coaching decision- I think Campbell will sleep soundly at night about the decisions to go on fourth down. However, the bad decision was to run the ball on 3rd Goal with 1:10 seconds left in the fourth quarter. David Montgomery loses two yards, and he has to waste a timeout to attempt the fourth down conversion. If he attempts even an incomplete pass in that situation, it means they would not need to attempt an onside kick and could potentially stop the 49ers and get the ball with 40 to 50 seconds on the clock. It may not have changed the outcome, but at least it was a higher percentage than getting a successful onside kick.
The Lions gave this game away and made history by giving up the 2nd highest comeback in the Conference Championship round. However, I like their chances more than the Ravens to return to this stage because the team is young, hungry and in the NFC, where the competition will be wide open entering next season.