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          NFL Nation

          Ravens defy odds by losing after scoring two special-teams touchdowns

          • Jamison Hensley, ESPN Staff WriterOct 16, 2017, 03:30 PM
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              Jamison Hensley is a reporter covering the Baltimore Ravens for ESPN. Jamison joined ESPN in 2011, covering the AFC North before focusing exclusively on the Ravens beginning in 2013. Jamison won the National Sports Media Association Maryland Sportswriter of the Year award in 2018, and he authored a book titled: Flying High: Stories of the Baltimore Ravens. He was the Ravens beat writer for the Baltimore Sun from 2000-2011.
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          BALTIMORE -- Bobby Rainey summed it up the best after the Baltimore Ravens lost to the Chicago Bears in overtime Sunday despite recording a kickoff and a punt for a touchdown in the same game for the first time in franchise history.

          "It’s odd, but that’s the way it went," said Rainey, who returned a kickoff 96 yards in the 27-24 loss. "Usually you think you’re going to win the game when special teams comes up big. We got two scores in the end to tie the game up, but it didn’t go our way. We have to come in next week and deal with that."

          Rainey is right. Entering Week 6, teams who had scored multiple touchdowns on special teams over the past 10 seasons were 18-3. That's an .857 winning percentage.

          Losing under those circumstances is a reflection of how poorly Baltimore played in the other facets of the game. The only times the Ravens reached the end zone against Chicago were on Rainey's fortunate score (many thought he was down by contact before he got up and scored) and on Michael Campanaro's game-tying 77-yard punt return for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter.

          Baltimore is just the third team in the past 10 seasons to have multiple special-teams touchdowns in a game without scoring an offensive touchdown, according to ESPN Stats & Information. The others were the Minnesota Vikings in 2012 and the Philadelphia Eagles in 2014.

          Rainey's return came in his first regular-season game of 2017 and bested his previous long kickoff return by 57 yards. His touchdown followed Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky's 27-yard touchdown pass and got Baltimore within 17-10 in the third quarter.

          Campanaro's punt return -- the eighth longest in Ravens history -- helped tie the game at 24 with 1:37 left in regulation. In overtime, Baltimore got the ball at its own 40-yard line and only needed to get two first downs to move into range for a winning field goal by Justin Tucker. But the Ravens went three-and-out, punted and watched the Bears drive down the field for the winning field goal.

          "It’s tough. I mean, we had all the momentum going into overtime, and then to get the ball back around midfield, we’re expecting to drive down, kick the field goal, score a touchdown and win it," Campanaro said. "We just have to execute better, and we have to make that play, and we will. We’re just going to get back to work, keep working hard, go back to practice and just keep improving."