From bad to rock bottom: Ravens' loss to Rams shows how far they've fallen -- and what must change next

Zay Flowers trudged off the field with his helmet off, not quite able to fathom losing a fumble for a second straight possession. He put his helmet back on, removed it once more to watch the replay on the Jumbotron, and looked away.

Then he reached the bench, raised his helmet to slam it down before simply setting it down in resignation.

The fumble didn't even belong to him, after all; he had never possessed the football. The "credit" for the fumble went to Cooper Rush, the backup quarterback filling in for the injured Lamar Jackson, even though the handoff looked clean.

But perhaps that's the issue with the Ravens. There are so many different aspects that deserve credit -- or blame -- for the 1-5 start, tied for the franchise's worst ever through six games, after a 17-3 loss to the Rams.

"Obviously, I am getting a little tired of getting up here and having this conversation, but we had our opportunities," head coach John Harbaugh said postgame. "We created our opportunities, and we put ourselves in a position where we could have won that football game. Probably, you could say, in some ways, we should have won it, but we didn't do the things that you have to do to win the game. We made some critical mistakes that cost us an opportunity to win the game, and that's really what it boils down to. So, that's what we have to get straightened out."

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For much of this four-game losing streak, the defeats haven't been collapses, but rather slow, draining, inevitable defeats. Baltimore was never able to stop the run in Week 3 against the Lions, who mashed their way to a 38-30 victory. In Week 4, the Ravens trailed 20-7 in the first half and were down 27-13 by the time Jackson exited. Last week was never competitive -- Baltimore trailed 24-3 at halftime.

Against the Rams, Baltimore's defense hung in there. The Rams gave Baltimore plenty of gifts, too. Joshua Karty clanged a 27-yard field goal off an upright. Matthew Stafford lost a fumble. LaJohntay Wester fumbled a punt return but was given a second chance when Shaun Dolac was flagged for an ineligible man downfield. Wester returned the re-kick 35 yards. The Ravens, tied 3-3 shortly before halftime, were in position to take the lead heading into the break.

Instead, they wouldn't score. Not there, and not for the rest of the game.

The collapse started, ironically, at the deepest spot on the field Baltimore reached all game. Mark Andrews got stuffed on consecutive sneak plays from the 1-yard line. On fourth and goal, Derrick Henry was stopped behind the line of scrimmage.

"Every single player and coach would agree that we should be pushing that in there," Harbaugh said. "It should get pushed in on the first one, and if not the first one, it should get pushed in on the second one. ... I mean, come on, we should be able to put that in there. So I'm disappointed in that one.

"We're a big physical offensive line, we got big, physical guys; Mark's a big physical guy, and he's pushing. That should happen. ... Give the Rams credit, but that's on us. That should get done. Everybody -- every person in [the locker room] will tell you the same thing."

And they did.

"We all know we have to be better and get the ball in there on the 1-yard line," Henry said. "That's unacceptable."

"It sucks," center Tyler Linderbaum said. "They wanted it more than us."

Then it was the Ravens' turn to give away gifts. Unlike Baltimore, Los Angeles took advantage. The Rams marched 76 yards for a touchdown on the opening drive of the second half. On the Ravens' first snap of the ensuing drive, Andrews got called for offensive pass interference. On the next play, Flowers weaved through traffic and fumbled. Two plays later, Stafford found a wide-open Tyler Higbee for an 8-yard touchdown.

The boos arrived, and not for the first time Sunday afternoon. A half-hearted "Fire Harbaugh" chant began and quickly ended. It's not as if he was the one who put the ball on the ground, after all.

After the next drive ended in the Rush/Flowers fumble, Baltimore turned to Tyler Huntley under center. Harbaugh said it had always been the plan to play both quarterbacks, and Jackson's former longtime backup, with the franchise for a third go-round, got a loud cheer when he entered. He even briefly sparked hope of a comeback by converting two third downs with his arm and a fourth and 12 with his legs.

Ultimately, though, the drive fizzled, and much of the crowd, already beginning to dot the upper sections of M&T Bank Stadium, left with it.

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The Ravens won't be back for two weeks, after their much-needed bye. Harbaugh said he expects Jackson and linebacker Roquan Smith to be back for Week 8. Harbaugh also said he'll have his team practice Tuesday and Wednesday, a departure from normal bye-week procedure, in which his teams would have a meeting and then be released for the rest of the week.

Of course, this is a departure from his normal teams, too. Last week's 34-point loss was tied for the largest at home in franchise history. This week's three-point output was the second-lowest at home in franchise history.

"Three points is not going to cut it anywhere in this league, and we all know that," Henry said. "It just wasn't good today. ... [The Rams] were just better. They were just better at the line of scrimmage, better overall on defense, better than us ..."

Linderbaum acknowledged the 1-5 start for what it is -- "The only worse thing is 0-6, so, yeah, it's a big hole." -- but also acknowledged there's a chance for things to get better.

"Obviously not where we want to be, record-wise, but I feel like we were playing hard today," he said. "We were playing up to our standard of what we wanted to do, but at the end of the day, you can play as hard as you want, you just gotta execute."

The defense was a bright spot. Newly acquired safety Alohi Gilman's presence allowed the Ravens to put three safeties -- Kyle Hamilton, Malaki Starks and Gilman -- on the field at once for over 80% of the defensive snaps and move Hamilton around the formation. Gilman spoke of how he thought the unit was "right there" when it comes to being among the game's best. A previously porous run defense allowed just 74 yards on 23 carries.

Perhaps that's what makes this week's loss all the more frustrating. The team was right there. The team did a lot right. But it did far too much wrong, and without Jackson, the margin for error is nonexistent.

Jackson provides hope. Justice Hill called him a "generational player." DeAndre Hopkins said that while it can't be an excuse for losing, the past two games did show how important he is. Linderbaum chuckled and said, "It's Lamar Jackson. He's the best quarterback in the game, so he's certainly going to help our team out." 

But he's not a cure-all. The Ravens lost to the Bills and the Lions with Jackson. They were down big to the Chiefs even before Jackson left. The defense has to prove Sunday wasn't a flash in the pan. That's part of why the Ravens will practice even during their bye: so that they can build.

When informed how few teams had started 1-5 and made the playoffs -- four, to be exact -- Harbaugh said he was excited to be the next one and that this team could still accomplish all the goals it had a month and a half ago. Players felt the same.

"Absolutely," Linderbaum said when asked if they could turn things around. "Absolutely."

Ironically, or perhaps coincidentally, Linderbaum delivered that just a few feet from a quote on the wall of the Ravens' locker room that reads, "Reputations aren't built on what you say. They're built on what you do," attributed to Harbaugh.

The Ravens can say the right things. In fact, they have. But until it reflects on the field, the losses will continue. Now 1-5, the Ravens have to be nearly perfect. So far, they haven't even been "good."