For a team on a five-game winning streak, the Baltimore Ravens never looked convincing. After their Thanksgiving meltdown against the Cincinnati Bengals, one analyst believes the cracks in the foundation are finally showing, and they point directly to the relationship between the star quarterback and the head coach.

“Ravens offense has been sloppy ever since LJ has come back… There’s been zero crisp to it. Most of the same players with the same coach who did historic stuff last year just haven’t been even close to what they were last season,” former NFL quarterback and analyst Dan Orlovsky said in a social media post after witnessing the loss.

His point cut deep because the drop-off has been obvious. The offense that once scared defenses now looks stuck in place. John Harbaugh’s team is now 6-6, and the margin for error is gone. The Ravens faithful watched a 32-14 meltdown that felt bigger than the score. Lamar Jackson turned the ball over more than three times (the first time in four years), and they never recovered, suggesting that Jackson isn’t doing what was expected from him by Harbaugh and the offense.

A similar notion was echoed in the press conference by the head coach: “When you turn the ball over as much as we did tonight, that’s the story of the game. You just can’t do it if you want to win.”

Jackson’s five turnovers were more than the Ravens had during their entire five-game winning streak. He completed 17 of 32 for 246 yards with no touchdowns and a 65.4 rating. Those stats point to a unit that is searching for answers. The confidence from earlier weeks has faded.

Additionally, the defense cracked too. Baltimore gave up a 29-yard score to Andrei Iosivas and looked slow to react all night. Thursday was the first time they allowed more than 20 points since October 5. The floodgates opened as the Ravens trailed 26-14 with 15 seconds left in the third. The sideline urgency vanished as the Bengals kept marching.

On the other hand, Cincinnati racked up 382 total yards and held the ball for 38 minutes and 46 seconds. However, the way the Ravens were playing previously, this type of humiliation was expected.

Lamar Jackson and the Ravens’ playoff chances are questionable

The Ravens have been stacking wins, but nothing about them looked sharp. The fans saw a five-game run, yet the offense never felt steady. Even with Lamar Jackson back, the group kept sputtering. At times, the unit looked broken, and Jackson has not found his rhythm since coming off his early injury. The signs were there, and they were hard to ignore.

Then the schedule exposed them. They kept winning ugly against the Vikings, Browns, and Jets. Those games never looked clean, and they never felt comfortable. If they had faced stronger teams with real quarterback play, the outcome could have flipped fast. The concerns kept building, and the warning lights kept blinking.

On Thursday, they finally saw a real test. Joe Burrow walked into M&T Bank Stadium and cooked them from the start. Baltimore was not just beaten, it was humiliated. The offense turned the ball over five times against one of the worst defenses in modern NFL history, and the defense had no answer for Burrow in return. The score showed an 18-point gap, but the game felt worse than that.

Now the focus shifts to Lamar. The biggest concern is simple. He does not look like himself at all. Lamar Jackson has a passer rating of 104.5 with 1,841 yards, 15 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions in 9 games this season. It remains to be seen how they will respond next week, but from here, their playoff chances have dropped to 39 percent.