Ravens, With NFL's Best Record And No. 1 Seed, Lose Their Composure and Lose To Chiefs

BALTIMORE -- The AFC Championship Game is no time to lose composure. And discipline.

Because losing your ever-lovin' mind like that can cost your team the game. Well, meet the Baltimore Ravens.

You're going to read everywhere the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Ravens and they're headed to the Super Bowl for the second consecutive season and fourth time in five seasons.

Chiefs 17.

Ravens 10.

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - JANUARY 28: Travis Kelce #87 of the Kansas City Chiefs reacts after a first down against the Baltimore Ravens during the second quarter in the AFC Championship Game at M&T Bank Stadium on January 28, 2024 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

But consider that the Ravens did a good deal to lose this game while the Chiefs were busy trying to win it.

Chiefs keep composure as Ravens fall apart

Consider that receiver Zay Flowers had the roughest series of the game that included great plays followed by terrible and frustrating actions.

In the third quarter Flowers caught a 54 yard bomb from quarterback Lamar Jackson. And the play that seemed to offer daylight for a Baltimore offense stuck in darkness immediately caused the partisan crowd at M&T Bank Stadium to celebrate.

And Flowers, a rookie, stood over Chiefs cornerback L'Jarius Sneed as he lay on the field. Yeah, the cost the Ravens a 15-yard taunting penalty.

The Ravens seemingly overcame that mistake when Jackson connected with Flower again on what should have been a 9 yard touchdown pass to Flowers. Except as he was contacted at the 1 yard line, Flowers fumbled the ball.

And Trent McDuffie recovered the fumble in the end zone.

The man who hit Flowers to cause the fumble? L'Jarius Sneed.

Flower, who had a touchdown reception earlier in the game, headed to the bench an promptly buried his head in his hands. He seemed inconsolable as multiple coaches tried to talk to him.

Then he slammed the bench with both hands as he stood up. Flowers apparently cut his finger on the bench.

The lack of discipline on the taunting hurt his team. And the obvious mistake on the fumble put the Ravens in a rough situation in the fourth quarter.

And, thing is, Flowers losing it was a picture of what was to come.

After he threw an interception in the fourth quarter, Jackson unstrapped his helmet and tossed it to the ground in frustration. He should have been frustrated because he threw into the end zone.

And into triple coverage.

Jackson was just not sharp.

With less than 3 minutes to play the Ravens had a chance to win this game if their defense could stop the Chiefs on downs.

Well, they started that series with a two penalties, including an unnecessary roughness.

The Chiefs this game had two unnecessary roughness penalties to add to their offensive taunting penalty.

The Chiefs, meanwhile, looked like the more disciplined and better coached team.

Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce deliver for Chiefs

Patrick Mahomes came to the game expecting to find Travis Kelce and leaning on the tight end and that's what he did. Kelce caught 11 passes for 116 yards.

Mahomes didn't throw an interception. The Chiefs actually didn't have a turnover.

The Ravens, a team that didn't play with composure, had three turnovers this game.

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