The Baltimore Ravens’ 2025 season ended in the cruelest way possible with one swing of a right leg and a football drifting just wide of the uprights. Unfortunately, at the heart of this moment was rookie kicker Tyler Loop.
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In the final seconds of Week 18 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Loop was asked to do what he had done all season reliably: a 44-yard field goal. A successful attempt would have won them the game, secured the AFC North, and punched Baltimore’s playoff ticket. Instead, the kick sailed right and, with that, Loop missed his first FG attempt from 50 yards or less this year.
As soon as Loop missed, Acrisure Stadium erupted, celebrating the Steelers’ 26-24 victory. What followed for Loop, however, was uglier than the miss itself. Within minutes, his social media accounts were flooded with abuse. Some fans blamed him for ending the season, while others went far beyond football, hurling deeply personal insults and even wishing harm on the 23-year-old rookie.
Even QB Lamar Jackson was honest enough to admit his initial frustration with the kicker, but inside the Ravens’ locker room, teammates understood the larger truth: this game was not lost on one snap. Even Derrick Henry stepped in to show his support for Loop.
After the game, the veteran running back didn’t talk about blame or frustration. Instead, he spoke about faith while revealing the message he delivered directly to Loop in one of the hardest moments of the rookie’s career.
“I feel for Tyler… I just told him to keep his spirits up, deal with it tonight, and then tomorrow the sun rises again… I just told him the story after this is gonna be great for him because God put him in this position to use him as an example… Can’t wait to see him overcome it on the other side,” he said.
A message like this coming from a player like Henry, a veteran who has seen every emotional extreme the NFL can offer, must mean a lot for Loop. Henry knew this and asked the rookie not to be hard on himself and instead look at it as a learning experience:
“I just told him to trust God’s plan, man,” Henry said. “He wouldn’t have him put in this position if he wasn’t strong enough to handle it.”
Derrick Henry on his teammate Tyler Loop:
“I feel for Tyler. I just told him to keep his spirits up, deal with it tonight and then tomorrow the sun rises again. I just told him the story after this is gonna be great for him because God put him in this position to use him as an… pic.twitter.com/uGOZ7bdaux
— Bobby Trosset (@bobbybaltim0re) January 5, 2026
The next few days or perhaps months are going to be tough for Loop, but it’s imperative to acknowledge that he wasn’t a liability all season. He missed just three field goals entering Week 18 and hadn’t missed from beyond 40 yards all year.
Baltimore, meanwhile, allowed a late touchdown drive in that game, failed to close defensively, and needed a miracle to even get the kick attempt.
Loop, for his part, has been more than exceptional. He beat out veteran competition in camp after Baltimore made the shocking decision to move on from Justin Tucker. For 17 weeks, Loop did his job. So when this one miss just happened to come at the worst possible time, the months of trust he earned shouldn’t be written off.
And until then, the Ravens can use the offseason answering some really hard questions, ranging from the future of Lamar Jackson and John Harbaugh to why January once again slipped away. Loop will spend it carrying a memory he didn’t ask for. Safe to say, the entire Ravens camp has some soul-searching to do in the next few months.
