It might be a good thing Baltimore lost to Washington this past Sunday. During the 2000 and 2012 seasons, the Ravens lost a game to the Redskins during the regular season and Baltimore went on to win the Super Bowl.
Shortly after losing to Washington last Sunday, Ravens’ head coach John Harbaugh fired offensive coordinator Marc Trestman and replaced him with Marty Mornhinweg, who was previously the Ravens’ quarterbacks coach. Baltimore is currently on a two-game losing streak.
Under Trestman this year, the Ravens’ offense was ranked 22nd in the NFL in scoring with an average of 19 game points per game. Baltimore’s offense is also ranked 22nd in passing yards (239 per game) and 17th in rushing yards (99 per game). This put too much pressure on the defense, a unit that has only allowed an average of 18 points a game (ranked seventh in the NFL), to go out and carry Baltimore in order to win ballgames.
This isn’t the first time Baltimore made an adjustment to their offense during the course of the regular season.
Similar to 2016, the Ravens had a subpar offense during their 2000 championship year. Baltimore was unable to score a touchdown on offense for five straight games and went on a three-game losing streak in the process.
One of those losses included a 10-3 loss to Washington at Landover. Following this loss, the Ravens benched former quarterback Tony Banks for Trent Dilfer, who went on to win Super Bowl XXXV behind an elite defense led by legendary linebacker Ray Lewis.
Twelve years later, the Ravens were having issues on offense under Cam Cameron, who was fired following the conclusion of the Ravens-Redskins game, a game Baltimore lost in overtime. Cameron was then replaced by Jim Caldwell, who was able to help the Ravens recover from a three-game losing streak late in the 2012 regular season.
Following this move, Joe Flacco posted his finest performance in his career during the postseason and the Ravens would win Super Bowl XLVII.
Coincidence or not, this is intriguing to say the least. Baltimore’s current situation sounds dangerously familiar to the one they found themselves in four years ago.
If history repeats itself, then Baltimore may find themselves hoisting the Lombardi Trophy this February.
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