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It has been a huge loss for a struggling Ravens defense that ranks last in the NFL for the first time since Week 16 of 2021. The 27-year-old Madubuike, the Ravens’ best defensive lineman who has made the Pro Bowl the past two seasons, has 21.5 sacks since the start of the 2023 season — the most by any defensive tackle in the league.

Without Madubuike, the Ravens allowed 207 yards rushing between the tackles — the most they’ve allowed in a game since ESPN began tracking the stat in 2006 — in Monday’s 38-30 loss to the Detroit Lions. Baltimore also didn’t record a sack in a game for the first time in four years.

The Ravens are trying to avoid their first 1-3 start in 10 years.

Madubuike developed symptoms after Baltimore’s Week 2 win over the Cleveland Browns and underwent further testing. The Ravens are unsure when the injury occurred in that game and have no timetable on his return.

“So, he’s not going to play this week, I can tell you that,” Harbaugh said. “And we’re going to have to see going forward when they know what they need to know.”

Madubuike is in the second year of a four-year, $98 million contract that includes $75.5 million guaranteed.

“Obviously, he’s a guy that we need and is dominant,” outside linebacker Odafe Oweh said. “I feel bad, but it’s the next man up mentality. We’d be doing him a disservice if we were out here not playing hard.”

Oweh said he spoke to Madubuike a few days ago.

“I was just trying to get in his head to see how he feels,” Oweh said. “He feels good. He’s just trying to get back on the field.”

Madubuike isn’t the only Ravens defensive lineman dealing with an injury. Starting nose tackle Travis Jones (knee) and defensive tackle Broderick Washington Jr. (ankle), who filled in for Madubuike, both did not practice Wednesday.

“I have a good feeling about those guys,” Harbaugh said. “But we will have to wait and see.”

“It got me thinking, what can we do to just get in on the fun?” Levy told ESPN. “What’s a somewhat improbable but achievable number for [quarterback] Caleb [Williams] to hit? I looked at some data and thought there was maybe a 5 to 10 percent chance that he would hit [four touchdowns]. He did it once last year, so I thought we’d get in on it.”

The next morning, Levy fired off a post on X. As Williams and the Bears looked for their first win of the season, fans in Chicago would be treated to free hot dogs on Sept. 23 if the quarterback threw four touchdown passes, something he did as a rookie in a win over Jacksonville.

pic.twitter.com/RVcOYcUfJt

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) September 21, 2025

The post was reshared over 1,700 times and received more than 7,900 likes. Late Sunday afternoon, as Levy watched the Bears take down the Dallas Cowboys 34-14 while Williams threw touchdown passes to wide receivers Rome Odunze, Luther Burden III, DJ Moore and tight end Cole Kmet, The Wieners Circle co-owner was stunned when he heard the quarterback acknowledge his restaurant’s promotion.

“I’ve heard about the four-touchdown thing,” Williams said postgame. “Congrats, everybody, you got free hot dogs.”

The Wieners Circle ordered an extra 2,000 hot dogs ahead of Tuesday’s giveaway where patrons could visit the Lincoln Park location for a free hot dog between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m., or until they ran out. Levy credited Chicago-based bread company S. Rosen’s for donating 2,000 poppyseed buns to support the giveaway.

By noon on a sunny September Tuesday, the line stretched up Clark Street and around the corner of Drummond Place. Local news trucks set up in front of the famous hot-dog stand to capture the scene. Cars drove by with the windows rolled down and shouted, “Go Bears!”

When the Vienna Beef hot-dog truck whizzed by and honked its horn, the line of hundreds of Bears fans and Chicagoans patiently awaiting their free hot dogs cheered.

Rain or shine, Chicago showed up ? pic.twitter.com/ZciXzGfsKM

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) September 23, 2025

Jose Figueroa, who calls himself the “No. 1 Bears fan” pumped up the crowd as they waited, walking back and forth in front of the line on the sidewalk. “Let’s go Bears!” he shouted over and over as he waved his arms.

Figueroa, a Bucktown resident, wore an apron with a Chicago-style hot dog on it that could pass him for a Wieners Circle employee, but he was there in an unofficial capacity.

“I got here at 8 a.m.,” he said. “I’m just volunteering and wanted to come down and bring everyone together.”

Gina Parentino and Michael Parent had the day off from work, so they waited an hour in line for their free hot dogs. Parent said he was still living off of the ’85 Bears but is feeling optimistic now about the 2025 team.

“If Sunday was a preview of what we’re going to keep getting, that’s great,” Parent said.

Parentino added: “If the Cubs can win after 108 years, Bears can win after just 40, we got this.”

Joe Patrick, 67, a lifelong Bears fan, was fishing Tuesday morning nearby on Lake Michigan.

“I love The Wiener Circle, and I was in the neighborhood, so I’d be crazy not to come and support the Bears,” Patrick said. “The Bears are going to win every game until they lose one, and then they’re going to win every game after that until they lose that one.”

José Figueroa is the unofficial hype man for the Weiner’s Circle and the Bears today- keeping the crowd going during the hour long wait for promised four touchdowns for free dogs promotion. He got here at 8 am pic.twitter.com/lAAZIFfzFb

— Kalyn Kahler (@kalynkahler) September 23, 2025

Allison Miller and Davin Strouse waited in line with their golden retriever, Clark, who donned a Bears jersey for the occasion. Miller and Strouse moved to Chicago six years ago and have gone to one Bears game a year since.

They were sitting in the North end zone Sunday and counting Williams’ touchdown passes. They’d seen The Wieners Circle’s post about free hot dogs if Williams passed for four touchdowns, but they didn’t think it would ever happen.

“Probably not,” Miller said.

“With the way the season has gone,” Strouse said, “but he hit two pretty quick, and that flea-flicker was pretty remarkable.”

When Williams had three touchdown passes by halftime, Miller and Strouse started talking about the possibility of free hot dogs with the other Bears fans in their section, and when Moore caught the fourth touchdown in the north end zone, right in front of them, they all high-fived to their free hot-dog future and the Bears’ win.

“The trick plays and even the scheme gives you a lot of hope,” Strouse said. “And the way Caleb played on Sunday, hopefully it’s a turning point.”

Ravens cornerback Chidobe Awuzie remembers the time four seasons ago when he played against Henry in a Bengals-Titans playoff game and just escaped a stiff-arm.

“My life definitely flashed before me,” Awuzie said. “You don’t want to end up on Twitter for the wrong reasons.”

Some running backs break free by juking out defenders. Others rely on spin moves. Henry has perfected this old-school tactic of using his free hand to toss would-be tacklers out of his way.

Henry has recorded 64 career stiff-arms on rushing attempts since 2017, when ESPN Research started tracking them. It’s 36 more than any other player.

His ability to shed tackles has paved the way for an NFL-best 5,704 yards after contact since he was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in 2016 and has prompted a teammate to question whether Henry should be allowed to continue using his stiff-arm.

“It’s more of a punch,” Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey said last season. “But if he’s on my team, it’s good. If it’s against me, I want it to be illegal.”

Henry’s first stiff-arm of the year came in the season opener, when he used his left arm to deliver a quick jab to Cole Bishop that left the Buffalo Bills safety sprawling on the ground. Henry went untouched the rest of the way for a 30-yard touchdown.

But it’s been a challenging season so far for Henry. He made a costly fumble in the fourth quarter of a 41-40 loss in Buffalo and was held to 23 yards rushing in Sunday’s 41-17 win over the Browns, statistically his worst game in two seasons as a Raven.

Baltimore believes that when Henry gets back on track, it will create the usual predicament for defenses.

“Once you see Derrick in person, you can understand if he put those paws on you, there’s going to be trouble,” Ravens running backs coach Willie Taggart said. “When he showed it on film once, everybody else knows that can happen when they come up in there. So, I think sometimes there’s some business decisions whether to tackle him or not.”

RAVENS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR Todd Monken first met Henry in 2009, when Monken was the wide receivers coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Henry was a freshman at nearby Yulee High School.

Someone told Monken that Henry was a running back.

“I’m like, ‘What?,” Monken recalled this summer. “The guy is like 14 years old. He looks like he’s 28. [It was] a lot like when I first saw Adrian Peterson, when you see somebody that’s just different.”

Players and coaches say the reason Henry is so effective with his stiff-arms — and why others are simply not built to do so — is his combination of size and long arms.

Henry is listed at 252 pounds. The only other NFL running back who is currently listed at 250 pounds is C.J. Ham, who is a fullback for the Minnesota Vikings.

Henry’s wingspan was measured at 80.75 inches at the NFL combine in 2016. It’s the third-longest wingspan by a running back measured at the combine since 2003, when this data was first recorded.

Henry has the power to brush tacklers away. He also has the speed to run away from them to reach the end zone.

According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Henry has reached 20 miles per hour or faster 32 times since 2018, which is third only to wide receiver Tyreek Hill (75) and Saquon Barkley (36).

“You can see guys with that size, but they’re not as fast,” Ravens center Tyler Linderbaum said. “But you see guys with that speed, and they’re not as big as him. He’s kind of got a little bit of everything. He is a special player, and there’s a reason why he is going to go down in history as one of the best backs to ever do it.”

Ravens running back Justice Hill believes it’s more than physical traits that allow Henry to excel at stiff-arms. When Hill asked Henry how he executes it, Henry replied, “Bro, I just give my all in it and put it all in there.”

HENRY’S MOST FAMOUS stiff-arm came on Oct. 13, 2020, and it technically didn’t count.

Henry, who was with the Titans at the time, got to the left edge where he smacked Josh Norman in his right shoulder and sent the All-Pro cornerback flying through the air and a few feet in front of him. The play was negated by offsetting penalties, but it’s long remembered by football fans. One YouTube video of the stiff-arm has 3.8 million views.

In an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show” three months after the play, Norman said, “For me, I don’t look at it from the standpoint of what people say after the fact. We can laugh. It’s a joke. I mean, we like to see the oohs and the aahs and the glitz and the glams of the sport. But when you’re out there, the only thing you’re thinking about is getting the opponent and the ball.”

Henry has mastered different stiff-arms for different situations. He was surprised that others have noticed this.

“It just depends on the run and the angle,” Henry said. “If I got time and I can set it up, then I’m going to really throw it with power. If I’m trying to break a quick tackle and get up field, then it’s more of a short arm. If I got space on a guy, I just try to give him a little stiff-arm to break the tackle and keep going down the field.”