BALTIMORE -- The difference between the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers is one game in the AFC North standings. On a wild Sunday, what truly separated the two AFC North rivals was a pair of good hands.
The Ravens (3-3) fell to the one-win Chicago Bears at home because they continually dropped the ball. The Steelers (4-2) upset the last remaining unbeaten team in Kansas City because of a crazy grab by Antonio Brown on a twice-deflected throw.
It's only Week 6 and it's difficult to imagine the Ravens overtaking the Steelers, namely due to playmakers. Baltimore lost to Chicago -- which had lost 10 straight road games, came off a short week after playing on Monday night and went with a rookie quarterback making his first road start -- because no one stepped up on offense. Pittsburgh's biggest problem is having too many game-changers and keeping Brown and Le'Veon Bell involved.
With Jeremy Maclin inactive and Breshad Perriman hurt, Baltimore had no wide receiver take control of a game the Ravens were favored to win by seven points. The Ravens simply dropped the ball against the Bears (2-4). To be more accurate, the Ravens dropped, dropped, dropped, dropped and dropped the ball.
There were five critical drops, the most drops by a team in Week 6. Two of them led to game-changing interceptions and 14 points for the Bears.
This time, you can't put all the blame on quarterback Joe Flacco and offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg, the most popular fall guys. Flacco can't make Perriman hold on to the ball when it hits him in the hands. Mornhinweg can't help it when Chris Moore lets the pass ricochet off his shoulder.
"I don’t really want to get into what's disappointing and what's not disappointing," coach John Harbaugh said when asked about the failure of his young receivers to produce. "You want to see guys step up and play well. You want to see guys make plays. Offensively, we want to score points and we want first downs. That's what we're shooting for, and that's what we’re working for. We're certainly capable of it. We need to get it going."
Baltimore's day got off to a bad start when Maclin, who was questionable with a shoulder injury, was scratched from the game. Then Perriman, Maclin's replacement, was knocked out of the game in the second quarter when he suffered a concussion.
Without Maclin and Perriman, Baltimore was left with one proven receiver (Mike Wallace) and three question marks. Moore, Michael Campanaro and Chris Matthews had a combined eight catches in the first five games.
The deflection off Moore in the fourth quarter resulted in a 90-yard interception return for a touchdown. Campanaro dropped a third-down pass in the second quarter that would've extended a drive. And Matthews would've had a touchdown if he didn't trip over his own feet in the end zone.
"We've just got to focus in," Campanaro said. "That's just repetition; that's practice. I mean, we're catching passes every day in practice. It's just got to translate over to the games. Those are plays as receivers we can't have, we can't make."
As a result, this marked only the fourth home game in Harbaugh's 10 seasons as coach that Baltimore failed to score an offensive touchdown.
"You keep doing everything you can, no matter what happened in the past," said Flacco, who was 24-of-41 for 180 yards. "Everybody always says -- and it is a bit cliché -- about putting it behind it you and moving on to the next one, but it is what you have to do. It is easier said than done, but it is what we have to do, and I think we have the guys that can do it."