The Baltimore Ravens watched their playoff dreams crash down in a gut-wrenching loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday Night Football. Their 26-24 loss was filled with mental errors, back-breaking penalties, and pure incompetence at times.
Despite the sloppy play, the Ravens put themselves in a prime position to escape Acrisure Stadium with a win. Unfortunately, a 44-yard field goal attempt by rookie kicker Tyler Loop with two seconds to go drifted wide right, giving the Steelers a playoff berth.
Obviously, Baltimore has many players and coaches to blame for the loss. However, it is the all too vivid memory of Loop’s kick sailing right of the uprights that will live in fans’ heads all offseason. In an up-and-down rookie campaign, Loop needed that kick to stake his claim as the team’s next franchise kicker. Unfortunately, his mishap has fans questioning his future even more.
Tyler Loop’s painful end to rookie season has fans questioning everything
Loop wasn’t necessarily bad this year. In fact, on paper, his 88.2% hit rate on 34 attempts looks pretty good. It is the manner in which he has missed those kicks, though, that has fans panicking.
The 24-year-old was 30-for-34. That’s fine, but three of those four misses came from 50-plus yards. Two of those were way off, including one that missed short in a Week 16 loss to the New England Patriots. That other miss is obviously the one from 44 yards on Sunday night, and it was another shank that wasn’t particularly close.
Loop also missed two extra points throughout the season. If those ultimately didn’t mean anything, this likely wouldn’t be a talking point, but both proved costly. He missed one in his debut, where the Ravens lost to the Buffalo Bills by one point, and he missed another in Week 14, where they fell to the Steelers in a one-score contest.
Along with struggling from a distance, it felt like Loop was allergic to the big moment in his rookie campaign. The pressure of the NFL is daunting, and evidently, it can take a toll on young players.
Regardless, this could prove to be a huge learning experience for Loop, and he could come back better than ever in 2026. If not, Baltimore may have to continue their search for a franchise kicker. For now, though, there is no reason to panic. He has shown promise, and if he can shake off that traumatizing end to his rookie year, the 2025 sixth-round pick could put himself in a position to leave no doubts about his future.