When it came down to the final play of the 222nd and final game of the 2025 regular season, Baltimore Ravens rookie kicker Tyler Loop faced a career-defining moment — make a 44-yard field goal as time expired to clinch the AFC North Division title and send his team to the playoffs with a win over their most hated rival, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Instead, Loop shanked the kick in the worst way possible and it sailed wide right for a 26-24 loss, landing behind the end zone almost exactly at the spot where NBC cameras showed a priest from Pittsburgh spreading holy water before the game.
“What a crushing defeat for the Ravens,” Sunday Night Football play-by-play analyst Mike Tirico said.
“These are the moments you talk about 40, 50 years later,” SNF color commentator Cris Collinsworth said following the game. ” … if you’ve been around long enough, you know this night is what this rivalry is all about. I’ve seen some of the craziest stuff in the National Football League between these 2 teams, and we saw it again tonight.”
Loop put his head in his hands and bent over at the knees following the miss, which followed a miraculous catch by tight end Isaiah Likely from Lamar Jackson on a 4th-and-7 to set up what should have been a relatively easy field goal for Loop.
“The Steelers had a priest bless the field with holy water during pregame,” The Sporting News wrote on its official X account. “The endzone he sprayed was the same endzone where Tyler Loop missed his field goal.”
Loop was 7-of-7 on field goals from 40 to 49 yards this season before his disastrous miss to the end the season.
Internet Recoils Following Loop’s Miss
As could be expected, the internet was incredibly unkind to Loop following the miss — everything from tagging him in tweets portraying famous movie and TV deaths (totally uncalled for) to clips of comedian Druski missing a field goal on ESPN’s College GameDay (kind of funny).
“He Might as well deactivate his socials before he even take his pads off,” Pee Wee Da Plug wrote on his official X account.
The Ravens made the unusual move of using a draft pick on Loop, taking him in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL draft. His rookie year ended with Ravens head coach John Harbaugh putting his arm around an emotional Loop as he walked in the locker room.
“The Steelers blasting the end line where Tyler Loop missed his game-winning field goal with holy water pre-game confirms one thing and one thing only: God hates the Baltimore Ravens,” For the Win’s Christian D’Andrea wrote on X.
It wasn’t Loop’s first mistake in the loss — he sent a kickoff out of bounds to give the Steelers the ball at their own 40-yard line.
“Lamar Jackson said he did not talk to Tyler Loop after the game, but he did talk to him in the middle of the game when he kicked the ball our of bounds,” Ravens Vault’s Sarah Ellison wrote on X. “Lamar admitted he was ‘livid’ at him.”
Ravens Rookie Blamed for ‘Crushing Defeat’ to End Season