Will the Ravens’ recent success against the NFC continue in 2021?

It doesn’t get talked about much, but the Ravens have been wildly successful against NFC opponents since Lamar Jackson became the team’s starting quarterback.

So successful, in fact, that they haven’t lost to an NFC team since October 28, 2018. That defeat came at the hands of the Carolina Panthers by a score of 36-21, a game in which Jackson came in for Joe Flacco in the fourth quarter with the result already decided.

Since then, the Ravens have outright dominated the opposite conference. Below is a list of their results against NFC opponents over the two-and-a-half seasons —

2018:

26-16 victory against the Atlanta Falcons on December 2 (Away)

20-12 victory against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on December 16 (Home)

2019:

23-17 victory against the Arizona Cardinals on September 15 (Home)

30-16 victory against the Seattle Seahawks on October 20 (Away)

45-6 victory against the Los Angeles Rams on November 25 (Away)

20-17 victory against the San Francisco 49ers on December 1 (Home)

2020:

31-17 victory against the Washington Football Team on October 4 (Away)

30-28 victory against the Philadelphia Eagles on October 18 (Away)

34-17 victory against the Dallas Cowboys on December 8 (Home)

27-13 victory against the New York Giants on December 27 (Home)

This amounts to a total record of 10-0 with Jackson under center and an average margin of victory of 12.4 points. They’ve been especially prolific on the road in this stretch; having won all but one of their five away victories by 10 or more points — including the infamous 45-6 blowout over the Rams in 2019.

Were the Ravens gifted in 2020 by playing the NFC East? Sure, but they ran the gauntlet against the loaded NFC West the year prior in impressive fashion. In 2021, the Ravens will do battle with an NFC North division that fielded two playoff teams last season but was largely dominated by one team — the Green Bay Packers.

Green Bay’s 13 wins in 2020 were five more than the Chicago Bears and they were the only team in the division with a better-than .500 record. If Aaron Rodgers winds up on a different team in 2021, the NFC North instantly becomes the weakest division in football; thus bettering the Ravens’ chances of going undefeated against the NFC yet again.

Below is when the Ravens play NFC opponents this season —

Week 3: @ Detroit Lions

Week 9: vs. Minnesota Vikings

Week 11: @ Chicago Bears

Week 15: vs. Green Bay Packers

Week 17: vs. Los Angeles Rams

The wild-card of this slate is the Week 17 matchup against the Rams, which was the add-in game on the Ravens schedule when the NFL expanded the number of scheduled games to 17. There’s also the unknown of who will be starting at quarterback for the Bears and Packers, which could potentially make either game more difficult or more easy.

With all due respect to the Lions, it’d be rather shocking if the Ravens came away from Week 3 without a victory. Chicago and Minnesota will pose challenges. The Packers were the NFC’s best team in 2020 and the Rams added Matthew Stafford after making the playoffs last season.

Circumstances will obviously change in-between now and each of these scheduled matchups, but it will be interesting to see if the Ravens’ success against the NFC can continue in 2021.