KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Boy, did I want to rip into Kyle Hamilton on Sunday.

With a sky-high eye on the Ravens’ disaster of a 37-20 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, a defeat that cast a dark ripple on the rest of the season, the 24-year-old’s comments last week that “Ravens fans can be a little bit spoiled” seemed ill timed.

Standards in Baltimore are undoubtedly high, given that some franchises have gone their whole history without so much as a championship, while the Ravens average a Lombardi every decade. But, even by a lesser standard, this 1-3 team has fallen far short of what anyone could reasonably expect.

Said Hamilton back then, in an impassioned defense of coordinator Zach Orr: “We lose five games, and the world is about to end.”

As of Sunday night, it certainly feels like the world is ending for the Ravens. Should fans feel happy with giving up 37 points? Should they feel proud of two delay-of-game penalties in the same set of downs? Should they be satisfied with a high-octane run game that has come up sputtering?

Of course not. No fan base should be happy with this kind of drubbing. So, yes, I was ready to tear into Hamilton for his ill-chosen words.

Except then he flogged himself for what he said on Thursday.

“I feel like earlier in the week I used a poor choice of words just saying Ravens fans were spoiled. I retract that,” he said. “I meant that in a sense that Ravens fans have been accustomed to great defense, great teams.

“There haven’t been a lot of teams in Ravens history since ’96 that have underachieved to the point where fans felt disappointed in the season as a whole,” Hamilton added. “And I felt like as of right now in Week 4, obviously, a long the way to go in this season, but we’re disappointed and I’m sure the fans are disappointed too.”

Here’s what I take away from Arrowhead Stadium: With injuries to Nnamdi Madubuike, Roquan Smith, Marlon Humphrey and a whole host of others, the Ravens’ defense might just be too broken to fix this year.

And yet, if there is one guy in the locker room you’d want trying to tackle a problem that may be too big to solve, it’s Hamilton.

At 24, Hamilton made a mistake in calling the fans spoiled. But, almost immediately, he understood why he was wrong. And, if Hamilton says it, you can believe it.

There are many good reasons the Ravens paid record-breaking money for a safety this offseason to keep Hamilton in Baltimore as long as they can. Even though he is the youngest among the Humphrey-Smith-Madubuike leadership group, he exudes the most maturity. Throughout this disastrous season, Hamilton has answered for the defense’s shortcomings — even though he is rarely, if ever, the weakest link in the chain.

When everyone else clears out of the locker room to avoid the media’s pressing questions, Hamilton is the guy who stays and takes it on the chin. What’s more — he made sure to highlight teammates such as Josh Tupou coming off the practice squad and Keyon Martin playing significant downs as an undrafted free agent.

No amount of class and accountability in postgame can change that the Ravens are now severely undermanned. Even though Orr is embattled, I don’t know how much coaching around the injuries he can reasonably be expected to do.

But, if there is any sign of surrender from this organization, Hamilton is not the one who is going to show it.

As he stood at the podium assessing a bleak outlook, he was already trying to think of how to attack next week against the Texans.

“I think, when you have a bunch of injuries to starting guys, everybody kind of drops their heads, and fans and reporters will be like, ‘Damn, we’re gonna be screwed at this position,’ whatever it may be,” he said. “But, as a whole defense, I don’t think we’re playing bad — I know it’s crazy to say that when we’re doing so bad. … We have to focus on little things week to week; keep it smaller rather than bigger. Like just focus on looking down the straw: ‘This is what we need to do.’”

I’m not saying the Ravens are fixable. In the long term of the season, that might not be the case. But, in the long term of seasons to come, Hamilton’s pursuit is a noble one.

We may be watching the Ravens’ 2025 campaign implode. But I also believe we are watching Hamilton, who has established himself as one of the league’s best defensive backs, mature in real time — which reflects positively for the Ravens’ chances to win Super Bowls beyond this season.

His leadership has been apparent when the Ravens have been at the top of the heap. Now that they’ve stumbled, his leadership is apparent as well.

“We got to put a product and a team on the field that fans are proud to say they root for, proud to say they spend money on tickets to come to games and all that stuff and support us,” Hamilton said.

As good as Super Bowls feel and as long as the shimmer of a Lombardi lasts, a team Ravens fans feel proud of is the most they can ask for. Baltimore doesn’t have that team now, and Week 5 could be at least as hard as Week 4 if the Ravens miss too many players long term.

But in Hamilton they have the right guy to lead them back to that standard — a standard that he appreciates even more after briefly seeming to question the height of the expectations.

Given enough time, I have no doubt that he will.