Too bad for the Baltimore Ravens the NFL doesn’t give out Super Bowl trophies in the preseason. 

After rallying to beat the Eagles 20–19 on August 12, the Ravens ran their NFL-record preseason winning streak to 24 games. The Ravens have not lost a preseason game since 2015. The team is 44-12 in the preseason (.786) under coach John Harbaugh.

What are the odds of an NFL team winning 24 straight preseason games? How do those odds compare to winning Powerball? Or being eaten by a shark? And how much money would you have won betting on the Ravens in each of their last 24 preseason games? 

We’ll get to all of that. But first, it’s time for some math. 

Odds Of An NFL Team Winning 24 Straight Games

We need to determine the odds of having the same outcome in a win-or-lose (or any 50-50) proposition 24 straight times with no other variables. Since Robert Oppenheimer isn’t available, we’ll take a pass at factoring the possibility of a tie in each individual game. 

But that extra variable makes this run even more statistically impressive. We need to figure out (0.5)24 or 0.5 to the power of 24. Then convert that figure into probability or odds. The “power” of a number indicates how many times the base would be multiplied by itself to reach the correct value. In this case, it’s 0.5 x 0.5 x 0.5 … 24 times.  0.5 to the power of 24 equals 5.96046448e-8. 

This is where we wished we paid attention to all that math in high school. “e-8” looks the odds of the Jets ever winning another Super Bowl.

Here, the machines are telling us that the answer is 5.96046448 x 10(-8). But there are not enough spaces to do so. 

10 to the power of 8 equals 100,000,000. 

10 to the power of negative 8 equals -100,000,000. 

Thus 0.5 to the power of 24 is -596,046,448.

The next step is to convert -596,046,448 to a decimal since we are dealing with a negative number.

The Odds of a Streak Like The Ravens Are . . . 

Time for the machines to do some heavy lifting. Our number as a decimal is 0.00000596046448. To convert this decimal to a percentage, we need to multiply it by 100: 0.00000596046448 X 100 = 0.000596046448%.

Are you still with us? Good? Now we will translate 0.000596046448% into odds. Well, 0.1% translates into 1000-1.  Thus, 0.596046448% translates into 5960.46448/1. Or roughly 6000/1. Now, we’ll keep moving the decimal point to the left to increase our odds. 

0.01% equals 10000-1. 

0.001% equals 100,000-1

0.0001% equals 1,000,000-1

Thus, 0.000596046448% equals 5,960,464.48-1. That means the odds of having the same outcome in a 50-50 (win/lose) proposition with no other variables 24 consecutive times are 5,960,464.48-1. 

Odds Of Winning 24 Straight Games Vs. Other Unlikely Events

Here’s a look at how the Ravens' 24-game winning streak odds of 5,960,464.48-1 stand up against some other extremely random occurrences like Powerball, Mega Millions and getting struck by lightning. 

We’ll round off to 5,960,464-1 to make it easier on the eyes.

Of course, we know that preseason NFL games are hardly straight up 50-50 propositions. There are scores of factors involved in each contest.  And these games do not “count” since the NFL does award rings in the summertime. 

But math is math. And this is pretty extraordinary.

Ravens 24-Game Win Preseason Streak, Odds and Scores

Here is a rundown of the 24-game winning streak. It began with a 22-19 victory over the Carolina Panthers on August 10, 2016. They have beaten Washington five times. The Ravens had 5 preseason games in 2018 due to the Hall of Fame game. There were no NFL preseason games in 2020 due to COVID. 

Ravens Winning Streak: Game-By-Game With Odds 

The last preseason defeat suffered by the Ravens occurred on September 2, 2015 by a 20-19 score to the Falcons. 

How Profitable Has 24-Game Winning Streak Been For Bettors?

The Ravens are 20-3-1 ATS during their preseason winning streak. If you wagered $100 on the Ravens in each of those games on the spread at the standard -110 odds, you would be up a total of $1545.70. If you wagered $100 on the moneyline in each of these games, you’d be up $1822.87. That represents a 53.1% profit margin. 

A $100 parlay of the past 15 preseason games played by the Ravens using the moneyline odds on the sports betting apps posted at kickoff would have paid a bit more: $223,225.14.

A Record Among Records

No NFL team has ever won more than 24 consecutive games in the regular season, regular season and playoffs, or the preseason. 

The Tom Brady-led New England Patriots won 21 overall straight games starting in 2003 and extending into 2004. One of those wins included a 32-29 victory in Super Bowl 38. The Indianapolis Colts and Peyton Manning ripped off 23 straight regular-season victories from 2008-09. 

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost the first 26 games in their history starting in 1976. When legendary coach John McKay was asked about his struggling team’s “execution,” he famously quipped: “I think it's a good idea.”

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