BALTIMORE – The predominant storyline heading into Monday night’s heavyweight clash between the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens was the matchup between two superstar quarterbacks. It was the first game in NFL history between former MVPs who are 25 years old or younger.

However, after the Chiefs 34-20 victory in Baltimore, in a game where nobody will say it was that close, Mahomes was the far better quarterback for the third year in a row.

Andy Reid and Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy had a masterful offensive game plan and had an answer for everything the Ravens threw at them. In many ways, it looked like the same game that sent the Ravens home from the playoffs in January.

“Obviously, all credit goes to the Chiefs,” Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said. “They played a great game. Very well executed, first of all, very impressive in every phase…We got beat in just about every way you can get beat and we understand that. We have a long way to go to get better.”

If not for a 93-yard kickoff return touchdown by rookie Devin Duvernay early in the second quarter and an uncharacteristically off night from Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker (missed XP, missed 42-yard field goal), Monday night might have been a 30-point game.

A Jackson touchdown pass to tight end Nick Boyle at the start of the fourth quarter miraculously made it just a one-score game, but the Chiefs answered right back with an effortless 13-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that took 6:41 off the clock to seal the deal.

It seemed like the only way the Chiefs offense would be stopped was if they self-destructed. The Ravens forced just one punt all night, which came after the Duvernay touchdown, but they didn’t capitalize. Instead, they went three-and-out and the Chiefs scored 14 unanswered points to take a 27-10 lead at the half.

The Ravens had gone 13 consecutive regular-season games without allowing more than 21 points, but the Chiefs surpassed 21 points with ease before the first half ended.

Whenever the Chiefs needed a score, they got one, in whatever way they chose. Mahomes was nearly flawless, completing 31-of-42 passes with 385 yards and four touchdown passes to four different receivers. His total QBR was 97.7, the highest single-game number of his already illustrious young career.

The game was far more lopsided than the score shows. The Chiefs had 517 yards to the Ravens’ 228 and 29 first downs to the Ravens’ 16. They averaged 9.2 yards per pass play, while the Ravens averaged a dismal 2.2. The Chiefs also beat the Ravens at their own game, possessing the ball for more than eight more minutes.

Nothing that Ravens third-year defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale called slowed Mahomes down. Against Ravens' blitzes, Mahomes completed 17-of-20 passes for 240 yards with three touchdowns, good for a near-perfect 156.3 passer rating.

Sitting back in coverage and rushing four didn’t work either as the Ravens defensive front generated no pressure, allowing Mahomes to comfortably survey the field and pick apart a talented secondary.

Kansas City converted on 10-of-13 on third-downs and Mahomes didn’t get sacked once on 46 dropbacks.

Even on the rare times the Ravens would either collapse the pocket and provide good coverage downfield, Mahomes would counter with an easy scramble to move the chains.

It was so effortless that it looked like they were toying with the Ravens defense at times.

All-Pro cornerback Marcus Peters had one of his sloppiest games as a Raven, but even on a play where he was in perfect position against Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill, Mahomes dropped a perfect pass over the top for a 20-yard touchdown.

Against a blitz, Mahomes fired a 49-yard touchdown pass off his back foot to Mecole Hardman. They even pulled off a 5-yard shovel pass to fullback Anthony Sherman for a score and a deceptive 2-yard touchdown pass to left tackle Eric Fisher to make the Ravens aggressive defense look borderline silly.

“They out-executed us. They out-game-planned us. They just beat us,” Harbaugh said. “So, that’s the story tonight. Big-picture stuff (and) all that, I don’t know. They’re better, obviously. They’re a better football team at this point in time. So, you win, or you learn, and we have a lot to learn from this game right here.”

Two things about the Ravens' performance were particularly discouraging. First off, even with all the defensive personnel upgrades they’ve made since their last meeting with the Chiefs, it was a nearly identical defensive performance to the 2019 game at Arrowhead.

The Ravens overhauled their defensive front in the offseason, trading for five-time Pro-Bowler Calais Campbell and signing Derek Wolfe in free agency to ignite a pass rush that struggled throughout last season. Through three games though, those two have combined for just one sack and one tackle for loss.

Outside linebacker Matthew Judon, who is on a $16.8 million franchise tag this season, managed just one quarterback hit and three tackles on 56 snaps.

For three weeks, the Ravens have only six sacks and two are by defensive backs. Their five outside linebackers — Judon, Tyus Bowser, Pernell McPhee, Jihad Ward and Jaylon Ferguson — have just two sacks combined. Both are from Bowser. 

On Monday night, not only did the Ravens not record a sack, but they had only four quarterback hits and two tackles for loss.

The Ravens also used first and third-round draft picks on linebackers Patrick Queen and Malik Harrison to add more speed at the second level. Both looked lost against the Chiefs' plethora of explosive playmakers and were benched in the fourth quarter. In fairness, they should be a lot readier to match up should the Ravens meet the Chiefs again in the playoffs when they have more game experience.

But worst of all, the secondary looked completely overmatched against all the Chiefs speed at receiver. Peters was not even on the roster the last time these two teams met but looked out of sorts for most of Monday night.

Jimmy Smith and the Ravens other All-Pro cornerback Marlon Humphrey struggled to match the speed of the Chiefs receivers.

Baltimore continued its season-long trend of struggling to defend the underneath passing game, allowing 163 receiving yards to running backs and tight ends.

Would having Earl Thomas still on the roster or injured slot cornerback Tavon Young available made a difference? Maybe, but having either of those two would not have changed a bigger issue for the Ravens.

The only way to slow down a quarterback as gifted as Mahomes with the amount of speed the Chiefs have at receiver is to get pressure from the front four without blitzing.

The 49ers did that in Super Bowl 54 and stifled the Chiefs offense for three-and-a-half quarters. Ditto with the Chargers last week. The Ravens do not have the personnel to do that though.

Unlike most teams that are building from the inside out defensively, the Ravens have taken the opposite approach, investing in one of the best secondaries in the league. That’s worked great for the most part over the last two seasons but has been a disaster against Mahomes two years in a row.

In three games against the Ravens since the start of 2018, Mahomes has averaged 379 passing yards, a 70% completion rate and nine touchdown passes to just one interception. Reid’s offense has eclipsed over 500 yards of offense in each of the last two meetings.

“I’m not going to make any excuses; they beat us,” Smith said. “They’ve lost to other teams that we’ve beaten. So, it’s any given Sunday. But like I said, they’ve been doing it every Sunday, nearly, and they’re the champions for a reason. It’s one of those games that is embarrassing to be in a little bit, especially because we pride ourselves on defense, but at the same time, we get to learn from this, and we get to bounce back.

The other concerning piece of the Ravens' performance was Jackson’s poor performance in another big game.

In a game where the Ravens needed their offense to control the ball, kill the clock and finish drives with touchdowns, Jackson and the rest of the unit failed at all three.

Jackson is now 21-4 in the regular-season as a starting quarterback, and three of those losses are to the Chiefs. In those games, the Ravens have needed Jackson to be at his best, but instead, they’ve been three of Jackson’s worst performances.

“Our kryptonite,” Jackson said of the Chiefs.

The Ravens' opening drive was promising as they ran eight plays (six runs) to get inside the Chiefs’ 10. But after the Ravens settled for a field goal and the Chiefs marched down the field to take an early 6-3 lead, the Ravens seemed to panic and abandon the run.

The Chiefs began flooding the middle of the field with defenders and made Jackson settle for check-downs or tightly contested throws. Sound familiar?

“It looked like the same thing from the Tennessee game, to be honest,” Jackson said.

The Ravens have had months to figure out a counterattack to the defensive strategy the Titans utilized. For as much work Jackson has put into becoming a better downfield passer and a more effective thrower outside the numbers, he again struggled to do both when he had an early deficit.

Offensive coordinator Greg Roman again veered from what the Ravens offense does best, as the Ravens ran the ball only 15 times the rest of the game after their first drive.

The Ravens young wide receivers could not separate and had several key drops. Jackson also missed some throws and held on to the ball too long, taking four sacks in the game. His longest completion was 19 yards.

Jackson finished just 15-of-28 for an abysmal 97 yards and a passing touchdown, looking disturbingly analogous to his performance against the Chargers in the 2019 playoffs.

“Just wasn’t on point tonight, that’s all,” Jackson said. “We’ve got to get ready for practice and get better.”

He did have 83 yards rushing on nine carries, but until Jackson can consistently throw the ball with efficiency from the pocket, the Ravens will continue to fall short in big games like this one.

What’s particularly concerning is that Jackson is now 0-5 in his career when trailing by 10 or more points.

Mahomes overcame deficits of 10 or more points three times in last year's postseason alone en route to a Super Bowl win.

Is it fair to start questioning whether Jackson has the passing ability or the mental toughness to will his team back when they get down early? Maybe. Jackson is still just 23 years old and sometimes people forget it is only his second year as a full-time starter. But until he can prove otherwise, these questions will continue to persist.

The Ravens have to stop getting away from who they are in big games though. Maybe the best way to slow down the Chiefs’ offense is to limit their time with the ball, which is what the Ravens offense does best.

However, for some reason, against Mahomes or whenever they have an early deficit, they become impatient. They try to match passing games with teams instead of doing what they do well: run the ball creatively, stay ahead of schedule and chew the clock.

The Ravens are never going to out-pass the Chiefs. Nobody in the league can do that. To beat the Chiefs and win the AFC, they need to control the ball and be who they are. Jackson also needs to do a better job of making defenses pay with his arm when the opportunity is there.

The good news is that it’s only Week 3 and the Ravens are still 2-1, so they have plenty of time to improve. Their next three opponents also have a combined one win, so there’s no reason to panic.

"I don't think we're discouraged at all,” Smith said. “The good thing about playing a team like that that's firing on all cylinders is that they can show you where you're weak at, and they did, so we get the chance to go back and fix it."

But all these questions will remain until the Ravens can deliver in a big game with the stakes at their highest. As of right now, the jury is out.

The Ravens on paper were a much better team last night than they were the last time they played the Chiefs, but for 60 minutes in a potential AFC Championship Game preview, the gap between the two teams looked even bigger than last year.

“There’s a lot of football left to be played,” Campbell said. “I’m confident that we’re going to rebound and, hopefully, we have to earn the right to see them again."