KANSAS CITY, Missouri — For nearly four years, Lamar Jackson has tried to get over the one time he called the Kansas City Chiefs the Baltimore Ravens’ kryptonite. And during that time, the franchise has tried to reduce the number of times Jackson has to bear the burden of being Superman to keep the Ravens on par with their AFC rival.

Yet here we are again, after Thursday night’s NFL season opener, and Kansas City has once again proven itself to be Baltimore’s kryptonite, and Jackson must once again don a cape and play the role of a superhero to keep the Ravens on even terms with the Chiefs. All with the usual result of a loss for Jackson and Baltimore, this time by a 27-20 victory for Kansas City, which was sealed for the Chiefs by literally the length of a toe out of bounds as time expired in the fourth quarter.

The decisive moment in a game is rarely as close as what happened at Arrowhead Stadium when Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely caught a potential tying touchdown as time expired, only to have it overturned when a review revealed the tip of his foot had touched the white boundary line at the end of the end zone. It was the closest margin of victory in a game the Ravens did not play particularly well, on the road in one of the toughest stadium environments in the NFL.

The Ravens can take heart from that perspective. They put the Chiefs under pressure until the last second of the game, with only the smallest of margins separating victory from defeat. But in a first week that is almost always plagued by over-analysis, Thursday night also offers us the first potential overreaction in the form of a question that is only worth asking because it is very familiar:

Is it sustainable for the Ravens offense to rely on Jackson as Superman in games like this?

Before we get into that, I’ll say it again: This is Week 1, and very rarely do we get a completely accurate representation of an NFL team after a season-opening loss. Especially teams with a lot of talent, good coaching, and a good quarterback. The Ravens have all of those things, so there’s plenty of reason to give them a few weeks (or even months) to fully realize their game plan ambitions. But we can do that while still being realistic. And that requires looking at their first attempt at a balanced offense on Thursday.

Yes, it was even. But that was largely due to Jackson’s creative acumen, who had to extend plays time and time again while throwing passes for 273 yards and a touchdown and also running 16 times for 122 yards. To put it bluntly: He was the Ravens’ entire offense.

This is something the team has been trying to get away from for years. Not because Jackson isn’t capable of carrying the load, but because the model has historically proven unsustainable. Either because Jackson takes too much physical punishment or because the Ravens fail in key moments of the postseason when he can’t be perfect. The final 20 seconds of Thursday’s game were a prime example of those pitfalls: Jackson missed Likely on what would have been a touchdown opportunity, then threw a ball on the move between two wideouts in the back of the end zone, missing an onrushing Rashod Bateman and a completely free Zay Flowers. And finally, when Jackson made the throw he absolutely should have made as time expired, the Ravens fell victim to Likely, who went out of bounds with a toe.

That need for perfection and consistent playmaking from Jackson is what I remembered watching against Baltimore on Thursday. The way the offense operated – almost entirely away from running back Derrick Henry in the second half – is not what the Ravens want to achieve from a balance or roster composition perspective. While this game unfolded in a way that required Jackson to lead in some way at almost every key moment, the hope must remain to minimize that need. Ultimately, it leads to the kind of collapse that ended up happening against the Chiefs.

Is this just an overreaction to one game? Maybe. The Ravens clearly didn’t believe that the loss was definitive – especially after Baltimore refused to concede defeat despite trailing 27-17 with five minutes left in the fourth quarter. The Ravens had committed a number of costly penalties, lost possession, got into a gap that diverted Henry’s playmaking, and had been mediocre on offense for long stretches.

But Jackson also showed his typical dynamic game when creating off the run, something he clearly wanted to develop even more after dropping to a weight he believes will make him quicker and more agile. He also showed an exceptional groove with Likely, the team’s third-year tight end who showed signs of developing into a key weapon.

“The adversity throughout the game was challenging … and we fought like crazy to overcome it,” Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said Thursday night. “I’m proud of the way the guys fought. We’re only going to get better from here on out. I’m excited about that.”

“That was a great performance by Lamar,” added linebacker Roquan Smith. “As a defense, we never should have put him in a position to have to come back like that. Hats off to him. There’s a reason he’s a two-time MVP, but as a defense, we never should have put those guys in that position. … That’s the worst game we’re going to play all season. I can promise you that.”

That was a sentiment from Jackson, too — that the offense is still in an adjustment period and that the Ravens will find a way to win games like Thursday’s if everyone settles into their roles. There was no frustration at carrying the bulk of the offensive load, just encouragement that the Ravens didn’t play particularly well but pressured the Chiefs until the final second at Arrowhead Stadium. That … and a message Jackson wanted to make clear when a reporter brought up his previous comments about Kansas City being Baltimore’s kryptonite.

“You’re not my kryptonite,” Jackson interrupted the reporter’s question and repeated it a second time. “You’re not my kryptonite.”

On Thursday night, the scoreboard again suggested otherwise. Just as Jackson’s performance suggested he’s still expected to be Superman when the offense should be protecting him with more balance. We’ll see if it was an anomaly in Week 1 or a sign of things to come as the season progresses.