“We have breaking news into SportsCenter. Adam Schefter reporting that John Harbaugh is out as Ravens head coach after 18 seasons. He was the second longest tenured coach in the league behind the guy who beat him Sunday Night Mike Tomlin. Harbaugh won a Super Bowl in the 2012 season and is 5-7 in the playoffs since.”
Never did I think it would come to this. Despite all of the nonsense that has been going on over the past few years, especially this year after that 1-5 start, I always had that feeling that Steve Bisciotti was going to let John Harbaugh go out on his own terms no matter how tough things got. Well I was wrong. To be fair I kinda knew this was going to happen for quite some time. If you watched those weekly pressers from the Under Armour Performance Center over the past few weeks, especially after the Thanksgiving loss against Cincinnati, Harbs just seemed a little bit off key. From what I noticed was that he was getting emotionally drained. He didn’t have the same passion for winning as he did in years past. And this was something that I feared would happen to him a couple of years ago and for good reason especially since he’s been doing this for so long. In my opinion there is one thing that will haunt Harbaugh for a while to come. The fact that he didn’t call his shot prior to the start of the 2023 playoffs and announced his retirement.
At the time it sounded crazy because he put together a 13-4 regular season featuring the best defense in football and Lamar Jackson significantly improving his skills as a passer compared to when he first came into the league. Not to mention his brother Jim just won a National Championship at Michigan and he wanted to come back into the NFL. It made sense for John to keep going but there was one major factor in all of this. It appeared as if the Ravens had found his successor in defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald. Yes he was two years removed from being the DC at Michigan, but given how much he had risen up in the coaching ranks it felt like the time was right for Harbs to hand over the baton especially if they pulled off a Super Bowl run. Unfortunately those plans were ruined because they were shot down by a dynasty at the height of their powers in the AFC Championship Game. Kansas City came to town and shredded whatever hopes of a 2012 sequel that Baltimore had. As that game went on it was proof that Harbaugh had nothing left in him and was a shell of what was his old glory. But his decision to prove why he was still a better coach than his brother would get the best of him. I get why, if you know that family all too well, they never take no for an answer and want to get to the top of the mountain the future be damned. If only his successor didn’t take the biggest coaching contract in NFL History at the time, and mold Seattle into a Super Bowl Contender overnight. (That hurt me a lot because I knew Mike Mac and his wife Stephanie)
Even though the Ravens would show flashes of their former glory over the next couple of seasons mostly due to the power of Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry, you just knew that the air was running out of the balloon. It was something I didn’t want to admit given my admiration for Harbaugh but it was true. The traps that he fell into at the end of his time here in Baltimore was no different than that of the man he replaced in Brian Billick. Just like Billick before him, Harbs’ biggest weakness was in-game managing late in contests. How so? He holds the record for most losses when leading by double digits whether it was in his control or not (Billick was also very high on that list). And arguably it was a massive reason why the Ravens never made it back to another Super Bowl after they won it all in 2012. Another big factor in all of this was his loyalty to certain players. This past year was no different. Before I get into that, I must say this. The biggest What If that the Ravens have faced the past few years wasn’t the departure of Mike Macdonald which was the result of Harbaugh refusing to retire. It was the death of longtime Offensive Line coach Joe D’Alessandris. (The last remaining assistant from the Super Bowl XLVII team) Not only in terms of him being able to develop middle round linemen into key starters, or pushing all of his men far beyond their projected abilities, but in who his successor was. George Warhop has been fired 9 separate times as an Offensive Line coach since 1997 (Make that 10 here in Baltimore) and yet kept getting hired because of his reputation from working with Joe Paterno at Penn State and Tom Coughlin at Boston College back in the 80s and early 90s. He did alright as a short term fill-in in 2024 but once he got full power this year, it turned out to be a disaster. Had both Daniel Faalele and Andrew Vorhees at guard when both of them were each drafted as tackles. Just like how Billick and Rick Neuheisel were loyal to both Kyle Boller and Chris Chester back in 2007 to the point where Steve McNair retired for good, Harbaugh and Warhop did the same for those two tackle converts. And it cost them dearly. Emery Jones and Ben Cleveland played significantly better in the few snaps they got and yet they were still kept on the bench (The same went for David Ojabo playing over Mike Green). And this also went for his staff. Zach Orr looked to be another Mike Macdonald in the sense that he had been in the organization for a decade, slowly learned the ways of the empire, and went away for a year before coming back as the DC. However, if the last two years have proven anything, Orr isn’t ready for primetime TV. And it showed with some of the schemes he ran. It got so bad to the point where Harbaugh had to bring back four former Ravens DCs to help him out and it still wasn’t enough.
And ultimately this caused him to lose the locker room as well as being trusted by the veteran leaders of the team. Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, and Roquan Smith all have huge personalities in regards to the game of football. And despite their admiration for Harbs, you just knew by the end that the message had grown stale. And like Billick before him, it showed itself on repeat during the final few weeks of the season. I get that Harbaugh was gunning for one of the better coaching feats of his career by overcoming a 1-5 start to make the playoffs (Outside of the Bears, those wins were against the Dolphins, Vikings, Browns, and Jets. Not impressive one bit), but one game crashed all of those hopes down. I know you’ll bring up the Week 1 loss to Buffalo where they blew a 15 point lead with 3 minutes left or giving up 24 unanswered points against Detroit on Blackout Night two weeks later, but to me I know exactly where Harbs lost his grip on the organization. Remember when Brian Billick lost to the 0-13 Dolphins in 2007 and that basically got him out of a job. That exact same thing happened to Harbaugh on Thanksgiving Night against a Bengals team that had lost 8 of its last 9 games (Their only win was on a last second field goal). I get that Joe Burrow foolishly came back from injury that night, but he didn’t even look all that impressive. The reason why Cincy ended up winning by the amount they did was that the Ravens turned the ball over 6 times including 3 times in the red zone. Once Isaiah Likely fumbled on the 1 yard line, all optimism of the Ravens regaining their old form was gone, and they panicked the rest of the way. Starting with that loss on Turkey Day Baltimore would lose 4 of their last 6 to miss the playoffs.
The final blow to this free fall was a winner take all showdown against the Steelers at Heinz Field (Thank you Malik Willis for getting injured in Week 17 and Shedeur Sanders laughing at the Yinzers or else the Ravens were dead). Once Kyle Hamilton went down with injury early in the 3rd Quarter, you knew there was no way that Baltimore was winning that game. Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh offense, despite missing most of its passing game, carved up Zach Orr’s defense and it seemed as if all hope was lost. BUT WAIT! Here comes Lamar and Zay Flowers to bring gobs of false hope to a head coach that needed it. Isaiah Likely made one of the greatest catches I’ve ever seen a Ravens player make in a clutch situation. It looked like it was going to be Mike Tomlin that was headed for the unemployment line. But the piece de resistance was an epic trolling from the Football Gods. Remember when Justin Tucker had all of those massage allegations against him this offseason which forced Eric DeCosta and company to go in a different direction which forced them to draft Tyler Loop? Well the question wasn’t what the punishment would be? But when would it take place? Loop hadn’t missed a kick under 50 yards all season, and hit all of his kicks that night with ease. I know a bunch of Pittsburgh area priests poured Holy Water into the North Endzone but he’s about to endure himself in Ravens lore. “Snap good, hold good, and THE KICK IS NO GOOD! IT IS WIDE RIGHT!” Billy Cundiff and Stephen Hauschka you have company. And just like Brian Billick before him John Harbaugh’s last defeat as head coach comes against the team that gave him his first defeat. “WE’RE FROM DE TAWN WID DA GREAT FOOTBALL TEAM!” Those rotten Yinzers. Have fun with Tomlin for the next few years by the way.
You know what’s absolutely insane? This is the 4th time in the last 9 months that I have had to witness one of my teams fire their head coach and the 3rd coming after one of those teams was favored to win it all at the start of the year. The only one that was expected of these was the Flyers getting rid of John Tortorella especially since he was considered to be a short term placeholder. But the others are basically all the same. Like the Ravens, the Orioles loomed as solid World Series Contenders and they fired Brandon Hyde during the middle of May. (And Mike Elias stepped down as GM) And even though they may not have the recent reputation like the Ravens have had, they too had talent capable of taking them far. Ironically the team that Steve Bisciotti and Eric DeCosta have tried to mold the Boys in Purple to based on gameday experience, entertainment, roster construction, and day to day operations also went through this. Penn State. They started the season 0-6 in Big Ten play during the 2025 season and that cost James Franklin, a man who just like Harbaugh gave way too much power to his assistants, his job. And while Franklin’s undoing was his inability to beat top contenders, he did his best Brian Billick impersonation by losing to UCLA and Northwestern in gimme matches as 20 point favorites. (More Neuheisel Family misery for me) And you know what the crazy part for me is? THIS COULD HAPPEN TO ME YET AGAIN! By the way things are going right now for the Golden State Warriors regardless of age starting to catch up to their core players, it wouldn’t surprise me if Steve Kerr gets sentenced to the guillotine especially given how he’s seen the game pass him by.
None of you guys may believe this but in regards to the news surrounding Harbaugh, this is the first time since I became a diehard Ravens fan that I’ve ever had to go through this. I’ve been spoiled to say the least. Getting to witness Super Bowl XLVII in person, watching years upon years of legendary players and coaches, all of those exciting moments I’ve had at M&T Bank Stadium with my family and friends over the past 18 years that have been going to Ravens games. The common denominator for all of those things was that John Harbaugh was the head coach of this team. And now I no longer have that. Right now this organization is faced with an uncomfortable situation especially since this is mostly new to them. Although I have a lot of faith in Bisciotti, DeCosta, Ozzie Newsome and Sashi Brown to find the right guy since they’ve proven that for years with hiring coordinators and other assistants. (Well not always but still around 75-80% of the time) The path I’m hoping that the Ravens will follow with their next head coach is that of the Philadelphia Flyers. Someone who can restore the identity that made this team great. Someone who enjoys the intensity of the game. Someone who is willing to never take no for an answer. Someone who can drive what he has to be the best that they can be. Look at what Danny Briere did with Rick Tocchet. Yes he was a former Flyer, but he also turned around losing cultures in Arizona and Vancouver and turned them into winners. And now you’re seeing the same thing in Philly. You wonder why I enjoy following that team up close and in person it’s because they have an identity that’s reminiscent of the great teams of their franchise’s past. (Yes, one of my besties from PSU is a reporter for them, but still it’s a fun and exciting team to watch nonetheless) That’s what I want to see the Ravens go for in the search for their next head coach. A man who will admire the culture that Ray Lewis, Rod Woodson, Shannon Sharpe and Ed Reed built on the field, while using the tactics that Billick and Harbaugh used on the sidelines during their primes. I want this team to have that swagger of going into the lion’s den screaming like a banshee. And most importantly, I want someone to help Lamar Jackson and Roquan Smith in particular to let them be loose and enjoy themselves as they make the players and coaches around them better.
And as I begin to wrap things up, I want to make a few things very clear. First of all I have had a few of these to deal with over the course of my life as a sports fan but this one stings more than any coaching departure that I have ever been through. This man was the head coach of the Ravens from the time I started grade school to my college graduation. While all of the things that I mentioned above about his downfall in Charm City may all be true this next thing is. He is the best head coach that I have seen, and I may possibly ever see, on the Ravens in my lifetime. When you look back at highlights of the John Harbaugh Era in Baltimore, he was a special coach. His ability to right the ship when things went wrong, going into hostile environments with no chance at winning and coming out victorious, always having those clever quotes both on T-Shirts and in the postgame locker room. Here’s what I think of when I think of Harbs. I think going on the road against the #1 seed in the playoffs and pulling off massive upsets. I think of statement wins in home night games against Super Bowl Contenders. His legacy won’t be tarnished even with the bad ending especially given that he’s won a Super Bowl and almost 200 games. And he will be donning a Gold Jacket in the near future. (I know he may have possibly the fewest Super Bowl appearances of any coach in the Hall, but he’s getting in given his resume and track record) A career that started in Ohio will likely end there no matter where he goes after his time here in Baltimore.
Thanks for the memories John. It was an absolute honor watching you coach this team for 18 exciting seasons. Good luck to you and your family wherever life takes you. I wish you nothing but the best. See you in the Ring of Honor and in Canton when it’s all said and done. And before I go and start working on the NFL Postseason Preview I need to set one thing straight…………..
WHO’S GOT IT BETTER THAN US!? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOBODY!!!
Bragging Rights Sports 