CINCINNATI (AP) — The Baltimore Ravens served notice that they have plenty of fight left as they pursue a third straight AFC North title.
The Ravens snapped a two-game losing streak and had what coach John Harbaugh said was their most complete game of the season as they blanked the Cincinnati Bengals 24-0 on Sunday.
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Baltimore Ravens linebacker Kyle van Noy (53), with safety Alohi Gilman (12) running next to him, returns an interception during the second half of an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)
Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase (1) is unable to complete a pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)
Baltimore Ravens running back Keaton Mitchell (34) runs the ball during the first half of an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) reacts after being sacked by Baltimore Ravens linebacker Tavius Robinson during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)
Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers, left, makes a catch for a touchdown past Cincinnati Bengals safety Geno Stone (22) during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Lamar Jackson threw for two touchdowns and the Baltimore defense sacked Joe Burrow three times. Kyle Van Noy and Alohi Gilman teamed up for a 95-yard pick-6 in the fourth quarter that served as the knockout punch, and Burrow was shut out for the first time in his six-year career.
“Complementary football in all three phases, coming off our best week of practice. We’ve had really good weeks of practice, very intentional weeks of practice, and this was another level,” Harbaugh said. “At this point in time, to see that is really what is impressive about these guys.”
The Ravens (7-7) won their fourth straight road game and pulled within a half-game of Pittsburgh in the AFC North. The Steelers host Miami on Monday night.
Baltimore avenged a 32-14 loss to the visiting Bengals on Thanksgiving night.
The Ravens shut out the Bengals for the fourth time. It was the first time the Bengals have been shut out since their 2017 opener, which was also against Baltimore.
“I think we were (ticked) off we lost to them the first time; I’m not going to lie,” Gilman said. "It was good to go out there and just put that on tape and let everyone know that we’re ready to roll.”
Jackson threw first-half TD passes to Rasheen Ali and Zay Flowers and finished 8 of 12 for 150 yards. Derrick Henry rushed for 100 yards on 11 carries, his sixth game of 100 or more this season.
Baltimore's offense was on the field for just 20:41, but scored on three straight drives late in the second quarter and early in the third.
“I believe all of us on offense had good rhythm. It felt like us, and we just have to keep pushing the envelope. We got positive yards and stayed ahead of the sticks,” Jackson said.
Cincinnati (4-10) — eliminated from playoff contention with the loss — drove into Baltimore territory four times but couldn't score.
“It starts with our offense getting shut out. Never saw that coming,” coach Zac Taylor said. “There’s a huge amount of accountability I have to take with that. It’s frustrating to score zero points. That’s unacceptable.”
Burrow completed 25 of 39 passes for 225 yards but went 4 of 10 for 59 yards and was picked off twice when under pressure. The game capped a frustrating week for Burrow, who earlier in the week said he wasn't having fun playing football.
“I mean, I think this is one of the worst games I've played. When your quarterback plays like that, your team is not going to have a chance to win,” said Burrow, who has thrown four interceptions in the last five quarters.
Ja’Marr Chase had 10 receptions for 132 yards.
Midway through the fourth quarter, Burrow drove the Bengals to the Ravens 7. On third-and-goal, Burrow tried to avoid the rush of Baltimore linebacker Tavius Robinson when he was picked off by Van Noy at the 5. Van Noy handed it off at the 16 to Gilman, who went 84 yards up the right sideline for the first defensive touchdown of his five-year career.
Gilman said he wasn't surprised that Van Noy handed the ball off.
“I was actually yelling at him to pitch the ball after he caught it, so it worked out,” he said. “I saved some hamstrings for him. Put it on me. So, shout out to Kyle Van Noy. It was a great play.”
The Ravens extended their lead to 14-0 with 23 seconds left in the first half on Jackson's 28-yard strike to Flowers in the back left corner of the end zone. Bengals safety Geno Stone was late on coverage as the Ravens took only 42 seconds to go 80 yards in five plays.
On the second play of the drive, cornerback DJ Turner had a potential interception deflect off his facemask at the Bengals 17 when Jackson overthrew Mark Andrews.
“To get down there and to get the seven points, take it the 14, two-score game going into halftime — it was a huge drive,” Harbaugh said.
Ravens: LB Teddye Buchanan (knee) left in the first half. CB Chidobe Awuzie (foot) and CB Marlon Humphrey (knee) were injured in the second half. Humphrey returned to the game.
Bengals: WR Charlie Jones (right ankle) came out in the second quarter. TE Noah Fant (right ankle), DT Kris Jenkins Jr. (left ankle) and RT Amarius Mims (right knee) were injured in the second half and did not return.
Ravens: Host New England next Sunday night.
Bengals: At Miami next Sunday.
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Baltimore Ravens linebacker Kyle van Noy (53), with safety Alohi Gilman (12) running next to him, returns an interception during the second half of an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)
Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase (1) is unable to complete a pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)
Baltimore Ravens running back Keaton Mitchell (34) runs the ball during the first half of an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) reacts after being sacked by Baltimore Ravens linebacker Tavius Robinson during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)
Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers, left, makes a catch for a touchdown past Cincinnati Bengals safety Geno Stone (22) during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
As communities across the country on Monday hosted parades, panels and service projects for the 40th federal observation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the political climate for some is more fraught with tensions than festive with reflection on the slain Black American civil rights icon's legacy.
In the year since Donald Trump's second inauguration fell on King Day, the Republican president has adopted a scorched earth stance against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and targeted mostly Black-led cities for federal law enforcement operations, among other policies that many King admirers have criticized.
One year ago, Trump's executive orders, “Ending Illegal Discrimination And Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” and “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” accelerated a rollback of civil rights and racial justice initiatives in federal agencies, corporations and universities. Last month, the National Park Service announced it will no longer offer free admission to parks on King Day and Juneteenth, but instead on Flag Day and Trump's birthday.
The fatal shooting this month of an unarmed Minneapolis woman in her car by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents sent there to target the city's Somali immigrant population, as well as Trump recently decrying civil rights as discrimination against white people, have only intensified fears of a regression from the social progress King and many others advocated for.
Still, the concerns have not chilled many King holiday events planned this year. Some conservative admirers of King say the holiday should be a reminder of the civil rights icon's plea that all people be judged by their character and not their skin color. Some Black advocacy groups, however, are vowing a day of resistance and rallies nationwide.
Urgent calls to unite against injustice were interspersed with energetic gospel at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where King preached. A sense that civil and human rights are at stake infused the comments by many speakers there Monday.
U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat and Ebenezer's senior pastor, invoked a story about King fighting for the Voting Rights Act after Congress passed the Civil Rights Act. He urged the crowd to keep pushing against Trump’s policies, sweeping immigration enforcement and what he described as attempts from the “Trump-Vance regime” to sow division.
“They are trying to weaponize despair and convince us that we are at war with one another,” Warnock said.
In a recent interview with the New York Times, Trump said he felt the Civil Rights Movement and the reforms it helped usher in were harmful to white people, who “were very badly treated.” Politicians and advocates say Trump's comments are what are harmful, because they dismiss the hard work of King and others that helped not just Black Americans but other groups, including women and the LGBTQ+ community.
“I think the Civil Rights Movement was one of the things that made our country so unique, that we haven’t always been perfect, but we’ve always strived to be this more perfect union, and that’s what I think the Civil Rights Movement represents,” Gov. Wes Moore, Maryland’s first Black governor and only the nation’s third elected Black governor, said this week in an interview with The Associated Press.
Maya Wiley, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, one of the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights coalitions, said the Trump administration's priorities make clear it is actively trying to erase the movement.
“From health care access and affordable housing to good paying jobs and union representation," Wiley said, “things Dr. King made part of his clarion call for a beloved community are still at stake and is even more so because (the administration) has dismantled the very terms of government and the norms of our culture.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
In Washington Monday, hundreds of people marched along Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, braving cold weather to honor the civil rights leader. The parade began decades ago as part of the effort to establish a national holiday in King’s honor.
Sam Ford, a retired broadcaster and member of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade Committee, helped bring the parade back in 2012.
“We got to continue to do this because not just of Dr. King, but of what he stood for," Ford said. “The struggle continues.”
Parade participant Harold Hunter echoed that sentiment.
“It’s not just a white thing or Black thing. This is a people thing,” he said.
The conservative Heritage Foundation think tank encouraged the holiday’s focus to stay solely on King himself. Brenda Hafera, a foundation research fellow, urged people to visit the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park in Atlanta or reread his “I have a dream” speech delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington nearly 63 years ago.
Using the holiday as a platform to rally and speak about “anti-racism” and “critical race theory” actually rejects King’s ambition for the country, Hafera argued.
“I think efforts should be conducted in the spirit of what Martin Luther King actually believed and what he preached. And his vision was a colorblind society, right,” Hafera said. “He says very famously in his speech, don’t judge by the color of your skin, but the content of your character.”
The NAACP, the nation's oldest civil right organization which had a myriad MLK Day events planned for Monday, asserted that the heightened fears among communities of color and in immigrant communities mean King Day observances must take a different tone. People will have to put their safety first, even if their government isn't, said Wisdom Cole, NAACP senior national director of advocacy.
“As folks are using their constitutional right to protest and to speak out and stand up for what they believe in, we are being faced with violence. We are faced with increased police and state violence inflicted by the government,” Cole said.
The Movement for Black Lives, a coalition of organizations affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement, had planned its events under the banner “Reclaim MLK Day of Action.” Organizers planned demonstrations in Atlanta; Chicago; and Oakland, California, among other cities, over the weekend and Monday.
“This year it is more important than ever to reclaim MLK’s radical legacy, letting his wisdom and fierce commitment to freedom move us into the action necessary to take care of one another, fight back, and free ourselves from this fascist regime,” Devonte Jackson, a national organizing director for the coalition, said in a statement.
For the first time in its 60-year history, Indiana University in Indianapolis canceled its annual Martin Luther King dinner. Over the years, the event drew notable guest speakers including Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress, and activist Angela Davis.
The reasoning was “budget constraints,” according to a social media post by the school's Black Student Union. However, the group said it was worried this was “connected to broader political pressures.” A few students responded by organizing smaller community dinners or “eat-ins” to fill the void, WTHR-TV in Indianapolis reported.
Meanwhile, the St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Westbrook, Maine, canceled a MLK Day service due to “unforeseen circumstances,” according to the parish website. But a member of the church's “social justice and peace committee” told NewsCenterMaine.com that the pastor was concerned about people's safety amid rumors of ICE agents being in the area.
Overall, there have been few reports of King Day events being majorly scaled down or canceled altogether.
In Memphis, Tennessee, the National Civil Rights Museum was going about its annual King Day celebration as normal. The museum is located on the site of the former Lorraine Motel, where King was shot on April 4, 1968. The museum offered free admission on the holiday, an annual tradition.
“This milestone year is not only about looking back at what Dr. King stood for, but also recognizing the people who continue to make his ideals real today,” museum President Russell Wigginton said.
Tang reported from Phoenix. Associated Press writers Matt Brown in Washington; Adrian Sanz in Memphis, Tennessee; Brian Witte in Annapolis, Maryland and Charlotte Kramon in Atlanta contributed to this report.
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. seen at Contra Costa College ahead of his lecture in San Pablo, Calif. on Feb. 14, 1964. (Pete Breinig/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
FILE - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers a speech in Selma, Ala., Feb. 12, 1965. (AP Photo/Horace Cort, file)
FILE - The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial during the 9th Annual Wreath Laying and Day of Reflection and Reconciliation, in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2020. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
FILE - A visitor pauses as she visits the memorial "Landmark for Peace" commemorating the site where Robert Kennedy delivered his immortal words on the night of Martin Luther King Jr's assassination in Indianapolis, Wednesday, April 4, 2018. The park where Kennedy called for peace and unity just hours after the assassination of King is being designated a National Historic Site. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)
FILE - A crowd marches across the Lefty O'Doul Bridge during the MLK Day March in San Francisco on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Dan Hernandez/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)/San Francisco Chronicle via AP, File)
FILE - A marcher holds up a sign at a march and rally at the South Carolina Statehouse to honor Martin Luther King Jr. on his holiday on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins, File)
