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Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow outdueled an error-prone Lamar Jackson as Cincinnati stunned the Ravens, 32-14, on Thursday, to end Baltimore’s five-game winning streak.

Burrow, making his first start since suffering a Week 2 turf toe injury, passed for 261 yards and two touchdowns to help carry the Bengals (4-8) to their first win over the Ravens (6-6) since the 2022 playoffs. They pulled away with 16 unanswered points over the second quarter and early third quarter and became the first opponent to score at least 20 points against the Ravens since Week 5.

Jackson had three of the Ravens’ five turnovers — an unlucky interception and two fumbles lost in Ravens territory — and struggled with his accuracy. He finished 17-for-32 for 246 yards and an interception and rushed six times for 27 yards as the Ravens had just 329 yards overall against a Bengals defense that, by some metrics, had been one of the worst in NFL history.

With the loss, the Ravens fell a half-game behind the AFC North-leading Pittsburgh Steelers, who play the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. Their odds of winning the division title fell from about 85% to 73%, according to The New York Times’ playoff simulator. The rivals will meet in Baltimore on Dec. 7.

The Ravens’ loss hurt more than just their playoff hopes. Nate Wiggins, their top cornerback, left late in the first half with a foot injury and was quickly ruled out. Bengals star wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase, who battled with Wiggins and other defensive backs throughout the night, finished with 110 receiving yards on seven catches.

After Wiggins’ exit, the Ravens’ defense fell apart in high-leverage spots. Midway through the third quarter, Burrow found Tanner Hudson for a 14-yard touchdown on third-and-9, the tight end beating safety Kyle Hamilton’s tight coverage with a one-handed catch. On the Bengals’ next possession, wide receiver Andrei Iosivas scored on another third-and-9, beating inside linebacker Roquan Smith for a 29-yard score as an exotic Ravens pressure package failed to get home. A 52-yard field goal by kicker Evan McPherson on Cincinnati’s next possession extended its lead to 29-14.

The Ravens’ offense was their undoing for much of the night, however. Entering Week 13, Cincinnati had allowed opponents to score on nearly 50% of their drives; the Ravens scored on just two of their 12. Running back Derrick Henry rushed for 33 yards on the Ravens’ first drive, capped by a 28-yard score, but finished with just 60 overall on the ground.

After that strong salvo, the Ravens couldn’t get out of their own way. They lost a fumble on a Jackson sack at their own 2-yard line on their next possession, lost another fumble on a would-be touchdown catch by tight end Isaiah Likely on their fourth possession and lost a third fumble on an aborted pass by Jackson on their sixth possession. The Bengals turned the three turnovers into only two field goals.

The Ravens, who trailed 12-7 at halftime, could rue their own missed chances. Less than seven minutes after Likely lost his fumble out of bounds on his long catch-and-run, turning a touchdown into a touchback, wide receiver Zay Flowers had a 36-yard touchdown catch disallowed because of a questionable offensive pass interference penalty. The drive ended with a punt.

‘Winning football’ no longer

Over the past few weeks, John Harbaugh had been asked a handful of questions premised on the idea that his star quarterback had not played like a star. Lamar Jackson, Harbaugh would say, was playing “winning football.” Sure, he was struggling to move like his old self, and he was missing open targets, and the offense was a slog, but the Ravens were at least winning. That meant something.

It means less now, after one of Jackson’s worst games in recent memory. His teammates let him down in key spots, but the two-time NFL Most Valuable Player was loose with the ball, inaccurate downfield and generally out of sync against one of the league’s worst defenses. It wasn’t all bad — Jackson appeared to have some of his zip back on scrambles — but the Ravens’ offense remains in bad shape. That’s an offensive line problem and a Todd Monken problem, but it’s also a Lamar Jackson problem.

— Jonas Shaffer, Ravens reporter

Waste of a Thanksgiving

Ravens fans ventured out from their warm homes to sit in the cold on Thanksgiving night ... to watch this? This team has so much talent, which it flashed intermittently again, but it again fell short. The defense put up an acceptable effort against Joe Burrow, despite Tee Higgins being out. But the offense was embarrassingly bad. And this time it was against the league’s worst defense.

The moments of excellence, like Derrick Henry’s runs, DeAndre Hopkins’ catches and Keaton Mitchell’s touchdown, were almost insulting. If you have that much talent, why can’t you score more than twice against the Bengals? I’m not sure if this is on offensive coordinator Todd Monken or quarterback Lamar Jackson, but something is not right. They proved exactly why most of the recent wins did not feel like true wins.

— Giana Han, Ravens reporter

Offensive malpractice

I generally don’t call for anyone’s job unless I feel it will do some good — but goodness gracious, my gut reaction is someone needs to get fired for how the Ravens have performed the last two weeks. So much of it is about Lamar Jackson underperforming and straight up missing throws on Thursday night. But the level of general carelessness that can lead to four turnovers against one of the worst defenses in the NFL is just not what the Ravens have historically accepted as their standard.

There’s also Todd Monken somehow losing Derrick Henry on his team for the entire second quarter, an offensive line that — sorry, John Harbaugh — is not improving, and just generally being inept in a game that the defense gave them plenty of chances to compete in. It was a slog, a living nightmare, a downright embarrassment — and not everyone involved should be invited back to Owings Mills after this. Something needs changing.

— Kyle Goon, columnist

Cold turkey

The Ravens had been squeaking by for far too long, eking out ugly wins over bad teams ever since Minnesota. Well, they finally got squeezed. Baltimore made too many mistakes in too many facets of the game to beat any opponent, regardless of its record. We’ve all been waiting for Lamar Jackson to break out and the offense to catch fire. Maybe it’s time to stop waiting and accept that this team’s ceiling isn’t as high as it should be.

— Paul Mancano, Banner Ravens Podcast host

A mediocre team, still with hope

Many things can be true at once. When it comes to the Ravens, here are two: 1) They are not very good; 2) Their season isn’t remotely close to over. The AFC North is a mess, giving the Ravens a fairly straight path to the postseason. Only they’ve seen so many straight paths this year before swerving needlessly, veering into the wall and fumbling the football. It’s maddening for fans, I’m sure, but perhaps not all that confounding.

None of the Ravens’ best players – say, top 10? – plays on the offensive or defensive line. So, although Baltimore is home to an incredible QB and a historically great running back and a possible Defensive Player of the Year at safety and good corners and a terrific punter and so on, it just doesn’t matter all that much because the game is won and lost where players collide. The Ravens haven’t controlled the line well enough and are lost because of it.

— Chris Korman, editor