Rival Report: Ravens offense mauled by Bears

by Christina "Tina" Rivers (3Rivers_Writer) on October 17, 2017

The Baltimore Ravens entered their Week Six game against the Chicago Bears with one of the worst offenses in the NFL. In Sunday’s 27-24 overtime loss, the Ravens were mauled offensively – the only team in the league to be ranked in the bottom five in offensive points per game and total yards. After scoring zero offensive touchdowns the Ravens are being forced to rely on their defense week-to-week and that is unlikely to propel them to a winning season in 2017.

Embed from Getty Images

Is Mornhinweg’s job in jeopardy?

Marty Mornhinweg didn’t become the play-caller for the Ravens as offensive coordinator until after the first few weeks of the 2016 NFL regular season. During John Harbaugh’s decade with the Ravens he has had three different offensive coordinators; Cam Cameron was dismissed in 2012 in favor of Jim Caldwell who took the Ravens to the Super Bowl for a win. Marc Trestman wasn’t effective, so Harbaugh promoted Mornhinweg and that has proven to be a disaster.

I think Marty is a great coach. There’s no question in my mind about it … I’ve seen him over the years. I know what he can do. – J. Harbaugh

The Ravens offense ranks 30-of-32 in offensive points per game (15.3) and 29-of-32 in yards per game (289.2). Under Mornhinweg, the Ravens are only ranked 23rd in the league in total yards and scoring and have been held, in seven games, to no-to-one offensive touchdowns (41 percent). Fans of the team have expressed frustration over the lack of production by the offense but had been satisfied that their defense was doing well…until the defense started getting gassed by teams that simply wore them down with long drives.

Per Harbaugh, Mornhinweg isn’t in danger of losing his coordinator position, at least for now. “I think anytime you try to pin the blame on any one person in a team sport like this, that’s always going to be a mistake,” Harbaugh said. “But I understand that’s how it works. We all understand that.”

Embed from Getty Images

Drops, mistakes by receivers key in loss

The Ravens are already leading the league with 16 players on their injured/reserved list and in Sunday’s loss, they lost two key targets – then watched as no one else stepped up to make plays. The receiving corps was already without Jeremy Maclin and during the game Breshaud Perriman was forced out of the game due to a concussion; tight end Maxx Williams left in the second quarter with a left ankle injury. Both were caught on the wrong end of turnovers. Joe Flacco, already struggling, could not get anything going with the personnel left to choose from.

Williams, who had just returned from an ankle injury, had the ball stripped while he was being tackled by Christian Jones. Danny Trevathan recovered, ending the drive. On the very next offensive series, Perriman couldn’t secure the ball and the tip was intercepted by Bryce Callahan who returned it 52 yards to set up a Bears touchdown.

There were a number of dropped passes, but five of them were critical. The two that led to turnovers allowed the Bears and rookie quarterback Mitchell Trubisky to remain in the game and kick the game-winning field goal in overtime. “You want to see guys step up and play well,” Harbaugh said about his receivers following the game. “You want to see guys make plays. Offensively, we want to score points and we want first downs.”

We have to make those plays … big plays, we need those, just to give our defense some rest … we need to do that just to give ourselves a spark. For one reason or another, we are not doing that right now. – WR Mike Wallace

Chris Moore saw a ball bounce off his shoulder pads late in the game that resulted in a 90-yard interception return for a touchdown. Michael Campanaro and Chris Matthews both missed critical plays that could have changed the score on the board. The trio combined for just eight catches in their first five games of the season – and aren’t showing they can step in and create plays for the offense.

We’re catching passes every day in practice. It’s just got to translate over to the games. Those [turnovers and drops] are plays as receivers we can’t have, we can’t make. – M. Campanaro

Campanaro did redeem himself by returning a punt 77 yards for a touchdown. The Ravens were able to convert the two-point play to set up overtime. Bobby Rainey had a special teams touchdown that kicked off the comeback for Baltimore in the game, running for 96 yards.

TOUCHDOWN CAMPANARO! pic.twitter.com/gHNnGm7aHs

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) October 15, 2017

That's a 96-yard TD. 😎 pic.twitter.com/ha1sqvSbTO

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) October 15, 2017

Embed from Getty Images

Defense struggles when offense isn’t clicking

On Sunday, the Ravens defense showed just how important offenses are to teams in the NFL. They gave up 231 rushing yards (the most in their franchise’s history) against a Bears run offense that ranks 12th in the NFL. After watching the Bears gash the Steelers with the run, Baltimore should have been prepared because Trubisky was unlikely to throw the ball much in just his first road start. The Bears ran on 54 of 75 offensive plays but with zero offensive production from their teammates the Ravens defense was forced to remain on the field and got burned.

Defensive tackle Brandon Williams has been key to stopping the run, but he has missed the past four games due to a foot injury. When Williams was healthy they allowed just an average of 85 yards on the ground. In the four games without him, Baltimore has allowed 169.5 yards per game.