It’s a difficult task to keep my frustrations from boiling over on paper. A give-me victory turned “Robin Hood, Men In Tights, Latrine” ugly is never a fun thing to experience. But, having it happen to the team you root for every week makes it even worse. The chance that the Ravens would end up losing their game against the Bengals seemed so slim that most of us were comfortable picturing a 4-1 record and heading into the game against Minnesota on a positive note. Instead, what we got was a mediocre performance and a real hit to the validity of this team.

Flacco found himself pressured during the entire game.

The deal is, the Ravens ended up losing a game that they should have won. It’s hard to grasp the fact that Baltimore gave up an opportunity to walk out of the week on top of the division, alone and in charge. The Bengals played a good enough game to get the victory, leaving Ray Lewis, Derrick Mason and friends reeling over what they did wrong. Whether it was the costly penalties, especially on the last drive that set the Bengals up for the game winning touchdown, the porous play of the defense, or the offense’s inability to put a game plan together, the team as a whole did not look like a championship-contending team.

Speaking of an inadequate offense, there is no better way to take yourself out of a game then to avoid your number one receiver for 60 minutes. For only the second time in his Ravens’ career, Mason did not catch a single pass. In fact, Baltimore’s wide receivers only had 5 catches total between the three of them, as the majority of Flacco’s passes were directed towards running back Ray Rice and tight end Todd Heap. Flacco posted the worst single game quarterback rating of his season and almost doubled his season total of interceptions. Somehow the running game couldn’t get on track either, as Cincinnati’s defense gave up a meager 82 yards on the ground. Together, a recipe for disaster has never been quite as clear.

However, the offense wasn’t the only culprit for the disappointing loss. The defense was also a huge sour spot. What Baltimore fans are used to as a usually dominating workhorse ended up proving to be little better than a high school team. Besides Ed Reed’s interception for a touchdown, the Ravens defense couldn’t seem to figure out the Bengals. While Carson Palmer’s completion percentage was not outstanding, he got the job done when he needed to. He spread the passing game love, finding six different receivers, two of which were flirting with 100 yard games. Cedric Benson also made the Ravens’ defense look silly, easily eclipsing the 100 yard mark.

The Bengals' defense made the big plays to get the job done.

Although the Bengals’ defense wasn’t amazing, they did enough to pull their weight. Despite Flacco’s 71% completion rate, the story was more about the interceptions, the sacks, and the overall lack of rhythm that Cincy’s defense can take praise for. The Bengals forced two picks and sacked Flacco twice, keeping him on his toes and never letting him feel comfortable.

Regardless of how the players performed, the biggest dagger was one that the Ravens have been cutting themselves with all season- penalties. A team will never be able to figure out how to win game after game if they cannot control the amount of yellow flags that are thrown. While last week’s game may have had its fair share of questionable calls, there was no doubt that Baltimore shot itself in the foot this week. The last Bengals drive was fed because of stupid mistakes made by players that know better. No matter how much players talk about not letting the refs become the deciding factor in a game, the message is not being echoed by the play on the field.

The point is, the game should not have been close enough for penalties to matter. For a team to win, close games cannot become the normal circumstances. For a penalty prone team like the Ravens are quickly becoming, they need to learn to build a bigger lead. Stopping the refs from throwing the flag is not going to happen; The referees will see the game as they want. The only way for the Ravens to find any relief is to generate such a complete performance that a few stupid penalties won’t have such a game-changing impact.

The unexpected loss has now put Baltimore in the position of playing catch up, as well as fighting off the Steelers efforts to keep up on the division as well. More and more, the Ravens and Steelers games towards the end of the season are looking as important as ever. But, the Ravens can’t lose sight of the situation they’ve put themselves in. At the end of the season, this team needs to be competing for a division championship, not a wildcard spot that will leave them in a precarious position in the playoffs.

On a side note, as a Ravens’ fan, I think I can speak for all when saying how sorry I am for hearing the news on the passing of Vikki Zimmer, wife of Bengals’ defensive coordinator, Mike Zimmer. In any situation, a loss of a life is tragic, and will take full precedence over the game in order to remind us all what is truely important. From the Ravens’ community, as well as myself personally, I send my condolances to Mike, his family, and the Bengals’ organization.