Ravens' Tyler Loop Continues Unfortunate Trend With Missed Kick

A 43-yard field goal is only a chip shot for the NFL's elite kickers, and Tyler Loop had spent his first season in the bigs looking like one of football's best boots.

He was 29-for-32 on field goals as a rookie, paying off the sixth-round pick that the Baltimore Ravens spent on him in dividends with one of the more productive rookie seasons across the game. And with a trip to the postseason on the line, he lined up for a 43-yarder that would have advanced his team past the Pittsburgh Steelers for the right to represent the AFC North in the following week's playoffs.

Loop knew that he'd misplaced his kick on first making contact with the football, but Ravens fans watching from home had to wait a few more seconds before bursting into agony. He pushed it just a few too many yards to the right, ending the crunch-time shootout at 26-24 in favor of their rivals.

Tyler Loop said he knew the second he made contact with the ball that it was a mishit. He said he just hit the ball thin.
— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) January 5, 2026

The rookie was previously flawless in such situations in limited opportunities, shooting a perfect 7-for-7 between 40-49 yards across 2025. But for a team like the Ravens, who welcome Loop to their annals of painful season-ending plays, this was nothing new.

Contextualizing the Weighty Miss

His whiff may have been the most numerically gut-wrenching, a last-second slice that provided no additional time to retort, but this will go down as one of Baltimore's lower-stakes defeats of recent.

In a third-consecutive year of watching expectations evaporate into thin air, this was the first to arrive just outside of the playoffs. Mark Andrews can understand some of Loop's pain, having bobbled a similarly routine play almost exactly a year prior.

The snow is a tough element to account for, but that doesn't take away how tough his dropped two-point conversion in last year's playoffs looks upon revisitation. That, combined with the fumble he coughed up in that very same Division Round loss to the Buffalo Bills, robbed the already-hurting fans of a second-straight trip to the AFC Championship game.

Baltimore Ravens Tight End Mark Andrews — Jan 19, 2025; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews (89) drops a pass on a two-point conversion late in the fourth quarter against the Buffalo Bills in a 2025 AFC divisional round game at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images | Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

The last time the Ravens advanced that far, it was Zay Flowers who made the mistake that Baltimoreans still see when they close their eyes. He, like Loop, was a rookie himself two seasons ago, and picked a wrong time to show his inexperience with a costly end zone fumble-turned-touchback, a lost touchdown that helped the Kansas City Chiefs prevail in yet another victorious Super Bowl appearance.

ZAY FLOWERS FUMBLE LEADS TO A TOUCHBACK 🤯😳

CHIEFS BALL.

(via @NFL)
pic.twitter.com/QVfHHfCeQy
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 28, 2024

These three campaigns won't just be remembered for the blunders. Lamar Jackson continues falling further from the championship ring he so desperately needs, amidst wasted MVP-level seasons, now forced to watch the entirety of the playoffs from the couch for the first time in years due to another one of these misses in the clutch.

And Loop, who'd spent the last four months teeing off in what's been a necessary kicking revitalizing in Baltimore, will have to wait until this coming fall to supply the fans with new memories to wash away the old.

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