Todd Monken is tired of the media acting surprised when players get frustrated with play-calling or want the ball more.

The former Ravens offensive coordinator appeared on The Ryan Ripken Show last week and unloaded on how the media covers coaching decisions and player frustrations. Monken, who is no longer with Baltimore after John Harbaugh was fired following an 8-9 season, didn’t hold back on what he views as obvious narratives dressed up as breaking news.

“Listen, we’re in a business where we’re expected to excel every week, so there’s going to be high stress,” Monken said. “There’s going to be frustration. There’s going to be times where they look at me, and they’re like, ‘Why do we call this? Why don’t we run this? Why don’t we use this player more?’ That comes with the territory. I mean, that’s no sh*t, you know? I get it. I’m not mad at anybody.”

What does frustrate him, though, is how those moments are framed.

“The media acts like that’s something like ‘Oooooh, the players are frustrated with the play calling.’ Well, no sh*t, my wife is. I don’t even understand it,” Monken said. “Like they act like it’s something, or this skill player wants the ball more. Well, no sh*t. ‘They want to run the ball more.’ Well, no sh*t. OK, you’re running the ball, now ‘You’re too conservative.’ It’s play-to-play, drive to drive.”

“The media acts like that’s something that’s like ‘oooo’ ‘the players are frustrated with the playcalling’ well no shit, my wife is”

Todd Monken opens up about media narratives and how they will always change. pic.twitter.com/GclMePGjCI

— Ryan Ripken (@ryanripkenshow) January 9, 2026

Monken pointed out the impossible standard coordinators face week to week. One game, a coordinator is “in his bag,” the next he’s “too trick Dicky.” The narratives shift constantly based on results, not process.

“It is what it is,” Monken said. “But they act like it’s a big deal.”

The irony is that Monken’s tenure in Baltimore gave the media plenty of material when the results were good. In 2023, Lamar Jackson won his second MVP as the Ravens finished sixth in total offense. In 2024, Baltimore became the first team in NFL history to post 4,000 passing yards and 3,000 rushing yards in the same season, finishing first in total offense and third in scoring.

Then came this past season, when everything unraveled.

Monken didn’t dodge accountability on Ripken’s show. He said he “didn’t coach Lamar well enough” and acknowledged that he “didn’t have as good a relationship as I could’ve” with Jackson. He also defended both Jackson and Harbaugh against media reports suggesting a fractured relationship, saying he never saw either have issues with the other or with the players.

But Monken’s frustration with media narratives extended beyond just coverage of his tenure in Baltimore. He addressed the broader challenge of social media and its role in shaping perception.

“We’re in the business of being critiqued,” Monken said. “I don’t like it. Everybody loves to be told they’re doing a great job. Everybody loves to hear the good things, but we’re not paid to always hear that. The position we’re in says you’ve got to take the good with the bad. And at the end of the day, it’s just noise.”

The problem, Monken said, is that social media makes it easy for players to believe narratives that fit what they want to hear while ignoring everything else.

“The world we live in is what we try to talk to our players about all the time — the world of social media,” Monken said. “You guys have to be careful because it’s real easy to want to listen and believe to what someone says that fits a narrativ, and it’s easy to not believe the other side of it. Like it’s everything in life, politics, religion, what side, the right or the left, sports. You just have to be careful of like who do you really believe and trust?”

The Wheaton, Illinois, native interviewed Saturday for the Cleveland Browns head coaching vacancy. He spent one season as Cleveland’s offensive coordinator in 2019 under Freddie Kitchens before both were fired after a 6-10 season. He went to Georgia and won two national championships as offensive coordinator before returning to the NFL with Baltimore in 2023.

Whether Monken ends up in Cleveland or elsewhere, he already knows what’s coming. Players will want the ball. Fans will second-guess play calls. Media narratives will swing wildly from week to week.

But, again, that’s all part of the job.