The Baltimore Ravens managed to get their eighth win of the season last night, defeating the Cincinnati Bengals 34-20. With an 8-3 record on the year, there is one thing they have done every game. That is entering the fourth quarter with the lead.
You would think that means that this team is bound for greatness, right? Well, not so fast. Most teams that had fourth quarter leads for this many consecutive games to start a season did not go on to win it all. Find out what happened to them below.
Baltimore Ravens Making NFL History
The Baltimore Ravens are just the fourth team ever to have a fourth quarter lead in at least 11 consecutive games to start the season. The other teams with at least 10 consecutive games with this lead all had notable seasons. Let’s take a look at who has done it before:
- 1998 Minnesota Vikings (16) (15-1)
- 2011 Green Bay Packers (16) (15-1)
- 1998 Denver Broncos (12) (14-2)
- 2023 Baltimore Ravens (11) (8-3)
- 1984 Miami Dolphins (10) (14-2)
Only one of these teams went on to win the Super Bowl. That was the 1998 Denver Broncos. Some may cancel them out considering two of the teams on this list did this in the same season. However, we should not be so quick to overlook the Minnesota Vikings here.
That is because they got upset by the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Championship that year. Their elimination was notable due to the offensive talent they had along with what ended up being the nail in the coffin. Back in 1998, Vikings kicker Gary Anderson was the first kicker ever to convert every field goal attempt and every extra point in a season. However, he missed a field goal in the NFC Championship that likely would have sent Minnesota to the Super Bowl considering that they ended up losing in overtime.
Then, you have the 1984 Miami Dolphins. They are notable because it was QB Dan Marino’s first season in the NFL. He ended up leading the Dolphins to a Super Bowl appearance against the San Francisco 49ers. They ended up losing that Super Bowl 38-16.
Finally, we have the most recent team in the Green Bay Packers. They had an immaculate run in that regular season, finishing 15-1 as the defending Super Bowl champions. However, their run in the playoffs that season was cut drastically short. They got upset by the 9-7 New York Giants, who went on to win the Super Bowl that season.
