For all the positivity, energy and humanity John Harbaugh brought with him during 18 years as Baltimore Ravens coach, it didn’t prevent the inevitable:
Coaches are hired to be fired.
That may sound cruel, but almost always in the cutthroat NFL, coaches do not go out on their own terms. Pete Carroll, Raheem Morris and Kevin Stefanski, among the lineup sent packing this week, can vouch for that.
But Harbaugh?
Yeah, him too. If it could happen to coaching giants such as Tom Landry, Paul Brown and Andy Reid, well, the affable Harbaugh has some good company.
Less than two days after yet another heartbreaking, season-ending loss – this time, it was sealed when rookie kicker Tyler Loop’s 44-yard field goal try flew off the mark, wide right, costing the Ravens the AFC North title – Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti pulled the plug.
No, it wasn’t graceful. The dismissal was undeniably awkward, at least publicly, as a team spokesman on Tuesday described it as a “parting of ways” at the precise time the statement from Bisciotti he distributed made it clear Harbaugh was “relieved” of duties. Maybe the mixed messaging can be blamed on a state of shock.
Harbaugh himself said, in a statement, that he “was hoping for a different kind of message on my last day here, someday…”
Of course, it’s not a stretch to suspect that Bisciotti’s decision was influenced by a deteriorating relationship between Harbaugh and Lamar Jackson, the two-time NFL MVP who was hardly moved to publicly endorse his coach when asked about the future in the aftermath of the Sunday night loss at Pittsburgh.
Last week, Harbaugh rejected a contention by Baltimore Sun columnist Mike Preston that a rift between the coach and dynamic quarterback existed and included Harbaugh’s frustration that Jackson fell asleep in meetings. Harbaugh, last week, also denied that the QB slept in meetings.
Still, I’m seriously doubting that Preston, a well-respected journalist who has covered the Ravens since their arrival from Cleveland in 1996, created that smoke out of thin air.
One thing’s for certain: The next Ravens coach will need a connection with Jackson – who can potentially swing whether there is massive locker room buy-in for the program – that extends beyond whatever you’d think is the typical relationship involving the face of the franchise.
And this goes for the next offensive coordinator, too, given that Jackson’s strained relationship with Todd Monken reportedly weighed heavily into the equation that led to Harbaugh’s ouster. According to Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic, Harbaugh became a “buffer” between the quarterback and coordinator.
It’s rather extreme to think Harbaugh lost the locker room. Especially when considering the emotional reaction reportedly coming from some Ravens players. Still, some will wonder whether his messaging still gets through. That’s fair. But that’s also a standard suspicion when teams are going through stuff. A few weeks ago, some people wondered about Mike Tomlin’s messaging in Pittsburgh.
In any event, however framed, the elephant in the room cannot be ignored.
Under Harbaugh, nearly 13 years removed from guiding the franchise to its second Super Bowl crown, the Ravens became some of the NFL’s biggest underachievers.
Harbaugh’s record looks better than that. He won six AFC North crowns, posted 13 playoff victories, and took four teams to AFC title games. Yet for all of that achieving, the Ravens – usually carrying one of the NFL’s most talented rosters around Jackson – kept blowing their chances to win big.
Especially since Jackson became the centerpiece in 2018. Two years ago, they squandered the No. 1 seed and lost the AFC Championship Game to the Chiefs on their own turf. Sure, it was Patrick Mahomes. But it’s not like Mahomes has never lost. The Ravens blew the top seed in 2019, too, victimized by Mike Vrabel’s Titans.
Last season ended with a two-point loss at Buffalo in the divisional round when Mark Andrews couldn’t hang onto the ball for a two-point conversion in crunch time that would have tied the game.
The return to Heartbreak Hotel – uh, Highmark Stadium – to start this season, underscored another issue that dogged Harbaugh’s teams: The Ravens blew a 15-point lead in the season-opening loss at Buffalo. More recently, they squandered an 11-point lead against the Patriots in Week 16, when Derrick Henry disappeared for the bulk of the fourth quarter of a 128-yard night.
Shoot, it happened at Pittsburgh on Sunday night, too. Baltimore was up 10-0 early.
Over the past six seasons, the Ravens have lost an NFL-high 10 games after blowing a double-digit lead in the second half. That pattern certainly connected dots to the underachievement.
So, blaming Jackson for Harbaugh’s ouster doesn’t cut it, considering a bottom line that extends beyond the team’s most important player.
Sure, it was a brutal season for Baltimore on the injury front. Jackson missed four games, mostly due to a hamstring injury, plus nursed an assortment of other injuries that kept him off the practice field, week after week. It was representative of a bigger picture that included the loss of All-Pro D-tackle Nnamdi Madubuike, lost for the season early with a neck injury.
Yet injuries don’t get you a pass. Look at the San Francisco 49ers, ravaged by the loss of key players yet opening the NFC playoffs in Philadelphia on Sunday. And had the Ravens made the coaching decision to turn to Tyler “Snoop” Huntley immediately after Jackson went down, rather than then top backup Cooper Rush, maybe the season doesn’t hinge on a missed field goal as time expired.
Harbaugh will move on, a class act instantly rising to the top of some lists of the most desirable head coaching candidates. He will offer energy, creativity and an ability to build culture. Shortly after he “parted ways” with the Ravens, his agent maintained to ESPN that seven teams had expressed interest – which means that one of those teams would conceivably dump its coach to consider Harbaugh.
When Bisciotti hired him in 2008, Harbaugh was an under-the-radar prospect who made his mark as a special teams coach under Reid in Philadelphia. He’s nobody’s secret now. It turned out to be a great hire, with only Tomlin, in his 19th season with the Steelers, in his job longer.
Yet suddenly, Harbaugh is on the market. That’s the stunner. Sort of. It’s the high-pressure NFL reality show. Stuff happens. Now, for all his success, Harbaugh will be challenged to distance himself from the identity the Ravens developed with so much underachievement.
Contact Jarrett Bell at jbell@usatoday.com or follow on X: @JarrettBell
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