The Baltimore Ravens are on a mission to salvage their season heading into their Week 8 matchup with the Chicago Bears. All year, the team has been out of sync, and they sit at 1-5 after seven weeks of action. There is still plenty of time to turn the year around, but time is ticking if they want to make a run at the playoffs.
Safe to say that times are desperate in Baltimore. And desperate times call for desperate measures. On Monday, The Baltimore Sun released an article detailing what has gone wrong with the Ravens in 2025. Most notably, they highlighted a key locker room change after Baltimore’s Week 4 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, and it has caught the attention of the NFL world. They wrote:
“The Ravens promptly removed several recreational staples from the locker room, including the basketball hoop near Jackson’s and Flowers’ stalls, the pingpong table that rookies Buchanan and Mike Green often battled on after practice, the once-popular cornhole boards, and yes, the video game consoles, often lit up with intense rounds of Super Smash Bros., that regularly drew small crowds of teammates late in the day.”
They noted that this is not the first time the coaching staff has decided to remove the ‘distractions,’ having done so in prior seasons when the team got off to an underwhelming start.
While this is clearly an effort to get the team focused and ready for the challenging road ahead to get back into playoff contention, it has many questioning the leadership in Baltimore and whether these actions will help.
That’s one way to lose a locker room.
— Kurt Benkert (@KurtBenkert) October 21, 2025
If you think down time activities are a problem, you’ve gotta zoom out and look at yourself in the mirror as coaches. https://t.co/IF4CLrLcKv
Ravens’ coaching staff tries last last-ditch effort to save season
All year, Ravens fans have been calling for Head Coach John Harbaugh to be put on the hot seat. Critical coaching errors cost the team early, and while recently the problems have been surrounding injuries and lackluster play on the field, it is obvious to anyone watching the games that the team's morale is low.
That is somewhat natural for a team that is off to a horrendous 1-5 start, but even in the moments where they were in competitive ball games, they were making foolish mistakes that would eventually cost them the game.
However, this move could also do the exact opposite of improving morale. Distractions or not, this is a professional football team. They know the task at hand.
They do not need the coaching staff to strip activities away to get focused. They know their job, and given the media responses on the slow start from several star players, they are working their hardest to get back on track. The Ravens have the star power necessary to be a competitive team, and while the product on the field must change, a ton of that lies on the coaching staff.
Harbaugh, Offensive Coordinator Todd Monken, and Defensive Coordinator Zach Orr have all made significant errors this year. Whether it be questionable playcalling on offense, poor defensive scheming, or terrible clock management, Baltimore has fallen short in nearly every way possible in 2025.
If it has worked before, go for it, but it is obviously a last-ditch effort to turn the tide. Changes have yet to shift the momentum since the team’s Week 4 loss. They did have some encouraging moments in their Week 6 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, but similar mistakes were still made. Maybe quarterback Lamar Jackson’s return on Sunday changes things, but for now, they are still left searching for answers.