A missed 44-yard field goal on the final play of the 2025 regular season will mark the end for one of the NFL's longest-tenured head coaches.
The Baltimore Ravens have fired John Harbaugh after narrowly failing to clinch the AFC North and a playoff spot that went with it in his 18th season with the team, NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport, Mike Garafolo and Tom Pelissero reported Tuesday.
Harbaugh, who took over the Ravens in 2008, ends his storied run helming the club with a 180-113 regular-season record, having reached 12 playoffs, four AFC title games and won Super Bowl XLVII. He leaves the winningest coach in franchise history by 100 victories.
"Following a comprehensive evaluation of the season and the overall direction of our organization, I decided to make a change at head coach. Today I informed John that he has been relieved of his duties," Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti said in a statement on Tuesday. "This was an incredibly difficult decision, given the tremendous 18 years we have spent together and the profound respect I have for John as a coach and, most importantly, as a great man of integrity.
"Throughout what I firmly believe is a Hall of Fame coaching career, John has delivered a Super Bowl championship to Baltimore and served as a steadfast pillar of humility and leadership. He and his family have deeply embedded themselves in this community. For these profound contributions, on and off the field, we should all be forever grateful."
The Ravens have been among the most successful teams in the league under Harbaugh, but on the heels of an 8-9 season after entering September as a top Super Bowl contender, Baltimore has recognized a need for a change.
"I was hoping for a different kind of message on my last day here, someday, but that day has come today," Harbaugh said in a statement on Tuesday. "It comes with disappointment certainly, but more with GRATITUDE & APPRECIATION.
"Gratitude to the owner and organization who was willing to bring in a head coach who made his mark with Special Teams success. A difficult thing to do … and Appreciation for all the moments, all these years, that are etched into eternity."
Baltimore was one of several NFL heavyweights to falter this season. The team started 1-5, unable to avoid digging a hole as star quarterback Lamar Jackson suffered a hamstring injury in Week 4 and missed three games. The defense was likewise dinged by injuries.
Five straight wins followed the Week 7 bye to claw back above .500, evidence of Harbaugh's culture, as well as the team's talent and mettle. But consecutive losses after that put Baltimore in desperation mode. Harbaugh and Co. entered the penultimate week of the season needing to win out and get lucky.
Jackson, a mainstay on the injury report all season, missed Week 17, but the Ravens still ran all over the Green Bay Packers for a win, and the aforementioned luck shined on them as the Pittsburgh Steelers were upset by the Cleveland Browns to set up a faceoff for the division on Sunday Night Football of Week 18.
A characteristically low-scoring affair between the Ravens and Steelers suddenly turned electric in the fourth quarter, featuring four lead changes in the final nine minutes of play. The Ravens nearly made it five thanks to a desperate fourth-down conversion and subsequent kneel-down to set up a 44-yard attempt by Tyler Loop, down, 26-24.
The rookie kicker instead missed his first career field goal attempt under 50 yards, sending the Ravens home for the playoffs and snapping a two-year streak of division titles.
In some ways it is fitting that Harbaugh's run as Ravens head coach ended via a battle to the wire against Mike Tomlin, the only longer-tenured active head coach, in their 40th head-to-head meeting.
It's the sixth time Harbaugh has missed the postseason and only the second time in the past eight years, but the overall struggle of the campaign and fickleness of championship windows apparently convinced Baltimore to try to jolt itself back into contention under a new voice.
"Our goal has always been and will always be to win Championships," Bisciotti said. "We strive to consistently perform at the highest level on the field and be a team and organization our fans take pride in. I will always be grateful for the extraordinary hard work and dedication displayed by John and his staff throughout the many successful years. I wish he, Ingrid and Alison all the best going forward. ...
"We now begin the challenging, but exciting, process of identifying the next leader of our football team. We fully understand the expectations of our fans and everyone in the Ravens organization. Finding another strong leader and partner who will reflect these high standards is paramount."
Harbaugh's departure will be considered hasty by some (or perhaps most), but the fact remains that the Ravens have not won a Super Bowl since the 2012 season. They've fallen short of the AFC Championship Game in all but one year since. Despite 11 double-digit-win seasons, Harbaugh-coached teams have too often become synonymous with late-game collapses; Baltimore has blown 46 fourth-quarter leads since 2008, tied for second-most during that span, per NFL Research.
Baltimore and Harbaugh had seemed close to a breakup years ago, during a three-plus season lull that followed the tremendous success experienced at the onset of his tenure.
In his first season, 2008, Harbaugh led the team all the way to the AFC Championship Game with a rookie Joe Flacco, kicking off a five-year stretch of consecutive playoff berths that was finally concluded with a Super Bowl victory.
Following an 8-8 season during a Super Bowl hangover in 2013 and a loss in the Divisional Round the following campaign, the Ravens failed to reach the postseason from 2015-17.
Heading into a Week 10 bye week at 4-5 in 2018, a split felt imminent. Only Harbaugh then handed the reins to Jackson, at the time a first-round rookie, and the Ravens rattled off wins in six of their last seven to take the AFC North.
In partnership with Jackson, Harbaugh and the Ravens re-emerged as yearly threats, missing the playoffs only in the 2021 season and this most recent one. Still, each of those postseason trips ended in disappointment, seemingly capped by a Divisional Round ceiling outside the '23 campaign.
Jackson has won two MVPs, but he dealt with a string of injuries from 2021-22 that contributed to murkiness over a potential extension in the 2023 offseason. One was eventually struck, though questions about his place in Baltimore were again raised during an injury-plagued downturn for the Ravens this season. He also declined to address his future immediately following the season-ending loss to the Steelers.
That will now be something for general manager Eric DeCosta and another head coach to answer.
Harbaugh, 63, only the third coach in Ravens history, will certainly be a candidate for any other team with a vacancy across the league.
The Ravens will move on in search of their fourth head coach in its 30-year history, hoping this season's setback was temporary and needing to find a way to go from so close for so many years to Super Bowl winner soon.
