KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When the final seconds ticked away to yet another early-season defeat, the visitors’ sideline at Arrowhead Stadium looked more like a treatment room than a football bench.
The Chiefs’ red sea roared all around them, and the Ravens’ bench felt like an emergency room.
It looked like a meltdown. It sure felt like one, too. As the reigning AFC champions piled on in the second half of Sunday’s 37-20 win, the predictable cry started to ripple across social media from Ravens Flock. Fire John Harbaugh. Fire defensive coordinator Zach Orr. Somebody must pay.
I get the impulse.
The Ravens’ defense, once a league-wide trademark of dominance, just suffered another beatdown from a Super Bowl contender that entered Sunday with a season-high of 22 points scored in a game.
Kansas City turned what should have been a back-and-forth boxing match into its personal backyard track meet, punctuating Baltimore’s soft zone and missed tackles with Patrick Mahomes’ wide grin that flashed so often across the video boards.
If you’re a fan who watched from home or braved the trek to Kansas City only to witness Baltimore drop its third game in four tries, frustration comes naturally.
But firing Harbaugh or Orr right now would be the wrong kind of dramatic overreaction. This doesn’t feel like willful incompetence or a veteran coach who’s lost the locker room. Rather, this is a team facing adversity head-on, crushed beneath injuries and an unforgiving opening schedule. Those facts matter.
Just look at Sunday’s injury list.
Lamar Jackson favored his hamstring. Ronnie Stanley sat with his ankle wrapped. Roquan Smith winced through his own hamstring injury. Marlon Humphrey clutched his calf, while Nate Wiggins was carted to the locker room, where he was presented with a sling for his right elbow.
Add all those names to an already bruised roster that played without Nnamdi Madubuike, Kyle Van Noy, Jaire Alexander, Patrick Ricard, Travis Jones or Broderick Washington.
Said running back Derrick Henry: “The ‘injury bug’ is real right now for us.”
For all the early heat Harbaugh is facing, he has built his Baltimore tenure on steadiness through storms like this.
The Ravens are no strangers to slow starts in September. Baltimore has lost at least two of its first five games in each of the past four seasons. Harbaugh’s accomplished teams, though, tend to find their stride when the calendar flips. None of that excuses their latest loss, but it provides the kind of historical context that separates an emotional reaction from a rational decision.
Consider the gantlet they just endured: Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit and now Kansas City. At least three opponents with legitimate Super Bowl aspirations. That’s an early-season buzzsaw for any NFL team, let alone one that’s as beat up as Baltimore.
The Texans (1-3) loom next Sunday at home, representing a get-right spot for the Ravens.
If Baltimore limps into its bye in Week 7 with five losses, we can revisit the conversation. Until then, calls for pink slips feel like an overreaction given the team’s health.
The same should be said of Orr, the second-year defensive coordinator.
The Ravens entered the Week 4 matchup ranked dead last in total yards allowed. The Chiefs only piled on. It was embarrassing work by the visitors, but did you notice the members of the defensive huddle in the second half?
“Baltimore’s Josh Tupou stops Kansas City’s Kareem Hunt for a 1-yard gain,” the press box announcer said during the third quarter.
Josh Tupou? The 31-year-old defensive tackle who was signed off the street three days before kickoff, playing meaningful snaps in what some described as an AFC championship preview?
C’mon.
Removing Orr, 33, in late September won’t magically regenerate healthy hamstrings or elbows. It would only add chaos to a unit already scrambling for bodies. Give him some grace down six defensive starters, including his entire starting defensive line.
“Obviously, you’re losing multiple All-Pro guys, and that’s not going to help a defense,” safety Kyle Hamilton said.
Just last year, the Ravens were in a familiar spot, bottom dwellers in the league’s defensive rankings. But Orr, in his debut campaign as the team’s top defensive coach, made in-season adjustments and the schedule softened up. All that led to the Ravens finishing with a respectable 10th-place ranking in total defense.
There’s value in believing that Orr and the defense can turn it around again. Reinforcements, such as 2024 sack leader Kyle Van Noy, also appear to be on the mend. Van Noy returned to practice for the first time this week since suffering his hamstring injury Sept. 14. He participated in an on-field workout before he was ultimately ruled out before kickoff.
John Jenkins, a 36-year-old veteran defensive tackle who has played for seven NFL franchises and for accomplished coaches such as Sean Payton and Pete Carroll, backed both Harbaugh and Orr.
“Man, we’re going to work [for them]. Those are great leaders,” Jenkins said. “We’re going to do what we can to fulfill our jobs and they’re going to keep leading the way and we’re going to keep on following. Whatever they need us to do, we’re going to keep on trying and trying to do the jobs that they require us to do.”
Baltimore fans deserve to be angry. They’ve watched a once-proud defense look helpless and a roster built for the playoffs stumble out of the gate.
But anger doesn’t necessarily have to mean panic. The NFL, after all, is a week-to-week league. For now, the Ravens need bodies back and proper in-season adjustments, not heads to roll.
Have a news tip? Contact Josh Tolentino at jtolentino@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200, x.com/JCTSports and instagram.com/JCTSports.