By a toe! Ravens TE Isaiah Likely came painfully close to pushing Chiefs to the brink

The Baltimore Ravens entered Thursday night looking for revenge. Last year, they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game. It is a loss that ate at the Ravens, with Lamar Jackson saying if he were healthier last year, they would have beaten the Chiefs. Baltimore had their chance to beat Kansas City to kick off the 2024 season.

The Ravens saw plenty of wasted opportunities throughout the game, but they had a chance to force overtime. Trailing 27-20, Jackson led Baltimore all the way to Kansas City's 10-yard line. Jackson missed out on a wide-open Zay Flowers to potentially force overtime or go for the win. But on the following play, Jackson connected with tight end Isaiah Likely in the back of the end zone for the touchdown, and Ravens head coach John Harbaugh was signaling to go for the two-point conversion.

But after replay, it can be seen that Likely's big toe touched the out-of-bounds line. With that, the game was officially called, as there was no time left on the clock. The Chiefs escaped with a 27-20 win to start their year off 1-0.

Ravens lose out on revenge to Chiefs after Isaiah Likely ruled out of bounds on touchdown catch

In case you needed any further visual proof of just how, well, lucky the Chiefs got, take a look at this close-up of Likely's foot on the since-negated touchdown catch.

An absolutely brutal way for the Ravens to lose this game. But there are takeaways from the game that the fanbase should feel proud of. The team pushed the defending Super Bowl champions to the brink. Likely looks like a legitimate threat in the passing game. Jackson is still impossible to defend.

Likely had a spectacular night, catching 9-of-12 targets for 111 yards and a touchdown. The scoring play in question saw Likely slicing and dicing his way through the Chiefs' secondary to reach the end zone to cut the Ravens' deficit to 20-17.

The Ravens may not have gotten the win, but there is still a ton of season left. Who knows, maybe they'll face off against the Chiefs in the playoffs and finally get their revenge. But for now, they will have to sit with this heartbreaking loss to the defending champs.