It’s only Week 4 of the 2025 regular season, but the NFL is already offering one of the best matchups of the year with the Baltimore Ravens taking on the Kansas City Chiefs in a potential AFC Championship preview this coming Sunday. Both teams are officially off to a 1-3 start, and a loss for either of them would prove to be detrimental to their postseason aspirations.
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Nevertheless, someone has got to lose, and Lamar Jackson will be doing everything in his power to ensure that his Ravens aren’t the ones flying home with a 1-4 record. Baltimore is coming off a tough loss at home to the Detroit Lions, but according to the 2024 MVP runner-up, they’ll need to have a short memory in order to get past the Chiefs this weekend.
“We gotta lock in,” Jackson exclaimed. “I feel like the last three games, even the win versus Cleveland, we started off slow. We’ve just gotta play how we play ball. Play Raven football, self-scout ourselves, and just get ready for Sunday.”
Jackson’s iteration of the Ravens has yet to win at Arrowhead Stadium. To some, that could prove to be an added source of motivation, but according to Jackson himself, he’s always motivated, “no matter who the opponent is or where it is.”
Of course, Mahomes and co. are likely just as motivated as well. This regular season marks the worst start in the history of his eight-year career, and one can only assume that they’ll hope to reverse this downtrend as soon as possible.
Ever since their lopsided loss to the Philadelphia Eagles at Super Bowl LIX, the jury has been out on whether or not this Chiefs team is still one to fear. Considering that they have only been able to defeat the lowly New York Giants since then, it’s certainly hard for anyone to envision them reaching their eighth consecutive AFC Championship.
In fact, the folks over in Las Vegas are favoring Jackson to find his first road victory against Mahomes this weekend. The Ravens will enter the contest as a -2.5-point betting favorite, which is a rare sight in and of itself.
Then again, the Chiefs have been struggling just to maintain their current average of 20 points per game, while Baltimore is currently averaging 37 points per game. There’s a clear discrepancy between these two offenses, so even though they may have the exact same record, that’s about the only thing that these two clubs have in common.
Kansas City will need its defense to stand up in a big way in order for it to come away from this one with a win. Otherwise, they’ll risk getting trampled by the Ravens’ run game.
Regardless of their records, team metrics, injury reports, or anything else, these two teams have given us some amazing football in recent years, and fans should expect that to continue on Sunday as we collectively look forward to what is undoubtedly the biggest game of the Week 4 slate.
