John Harbaugh’s 18-year run as head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, which peaked with a victory over his brother in Super Bowl XLVII, is now over. Harbaugh was fired Tuesday, just days after the end of arguably the most disappointing regular season in team history and just nine months after he signed a three-year contract extension.
The Ravens, a popular preseason Super Bowl pick, missed the playoffs for the first time since 2021 after falling to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday night.
“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,” team owner Steve Bisciotti said in a statement.
“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 departure of Harbaugh, who had been the NFL’s second-longest-tenured head coach, represents a major reset for a Ravens organization that has been one of the most stable in the NFL. It also marks the end of a successful era of Ravens football that seemingly had the potential to produce so much more.
Hired in 2008, Harbaugh was only the Ravens’ third head coach in their 30-year existence — and he’s their franchise leader in wins. The search for their fourth will begin in earnest. Expect to hear names such as Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter and Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula connected to the opening.
There had been speculation that the 63-year-old Harbaugh could be on the hot seat, but there was little evidence that owner Bisciotti was primed to make such a drastic move. Change, however, was expected after the Ravens missed the playoffs and faded in late November/December. It just wasn’t clear whether change would rise to the head-coaching level.
Harbaugh and Bisciotti are extremely close, and Bisciotti is known to covet stability. He’s repeatedly backed Harbaugh in the past after tough losses and disappointing seasons. However, the owner apparently concluded the Ravens had plateaued under Harbaugh, things had gone stale and a significant move was needed.
In 18 seasons at the helm of the Ravens, Harbaugh helped build a culture of consistency that was envied by the rest of the NFL. He led the team to the playoffs 12 times, advanced to the AFC Championship Game four times and experienced just three losing seasons.
His career highlight was winning Super Bowl XLVII after the 2012 regular season over brother Jim Harbaugh’s San Francisco 49ers, culminating a five-season run that began his head-coaching career and saw the Ravens reach the conference championship three times.
John Harbaugh had a 13-11 record in the playoffs and advanced to four AFC Championship Games. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
However, Harbaugh and the Ravens found playoff success challenging to sustain. Over his last 13 seasons, the Ravens went just 4-7 in the postseason, and their one trip to the AFC championship in January 2024 resulted in a 17-10 home loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, one of the most disappointing losses of Harbaugh’s career.
Disappointing playoff performances and a failure to win the sport’s biggest prize with two-time MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson are undoubtedly blemishes on Harbaugh’s otherwise strong resume in Baltimore.
“Our goal has always been and will always be to win championships. We strive to consistently perform at the highest level on the field and be a team and organization our fans take pride in,” Bisciotti said in the statement. “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.”
The 2025 season will also leave a mark. Baltimore was billed as having the most talented roster in the NFL. Yet, it started 1-5, and after getting back into the playoff mix with a midseason five-game winning streak, the Ravens were beaten three times at home in late November/December, including twice by division rivals. They were eliminated from playoff contention in Week 18 after a second loss to the Steelers that ended in a missed field goal as time expired.
“Well, 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. “It comes with disappointment certainly, but more with gratitude and 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.”
Assuming he wants to keep coaching, Harbaugh immediately becomes the biggest name on the head-coaching market. He’ll almost certainly garner interest from teams such as the New York Giants and Tennessee Titans.
By just about every measure, it was not a good year for Harbaugh. The Ravens blew two-score leads late in losses to the Buffalo Bills and the New England Patriots, a trend that plagued Harbaugh teams in recent years. Harbaugh stuck with struggling guards Andrew Vorhees and Daniel Faalele, and poor offensive line play was one of the team’s fatal flaws. A commitment to Derrick Henry and the run game came and went, continuing the Ravens’ head-scratching habit of losing their identity or not consistently playing to their strengths.
Jackson’s myriad injuries and the uncertainty of when he would and wouldn’t practice and play created an awkwardness in the building. Harbaugh defended his relationship with the quarterback late in the season, but that didn’t change the perception they weren’t always on the same page on certain matters.
Still, this decision couldn’t have been an easy one for either Harbaugh or the Ravens’ brain trust, of which the head coach has been a major component for nearly two decades. Before Tuesday’s news, Harbaugh was the NFL’s second-longest-tenured head coach behind longtime rival Mike Tomlin of the Steelers.
Just in March, Bisciotti signed Harbaugh to a three-year extension in addition to the one year he had remaining on his contract. He was under contract through 2028 and was one of the NFL’s highest-paid head coaches.
Bisciotti and Harbaugh certainly butted heads on a few things during their time together, but that’s unavoidable when you pair a demanding owner with a strong-willed head coach. Harbaugh and general manager Eric DeCosta didn’t see eye to eye on everything, yet they maintained a strong relationship. There was no evidence that Harbaugh’s relationship with any of the team’s top executives had soured, even during a brutal 2025 that tested the patience of everyone in their organization.
An unconventional hire after Bisciotti fired Super Bowl-winning coach Brian Billick and initially offered the job to then-Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, Harbaugh had primarily been a special teams coach during his time in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles. He took over a Ravens team with a star-studded defense and sparred early with several of those stars to establish the locker room culture he coveted.
He won big from the start as the Ravens had 10 or more victories in four of his first five seasons, and he became the first coach in NFL history to win a postseason game in each of his first five seasons.
The Ravens didn’t miss the playoffs for the first time under Harbaugh until 2013, his sixth year as a head coach. Overall, he compiled a 180-113 record and a 13-11 mark in the playoffs. He ranks 14th all time in head-coaching wins.
Since Harbaugh’s first year in 2008, only the Green Bay Packers and Patriots had more playoff berths than the Ravens’ 12 and more total wins than Baltimore’s 193. Only the Chiefs and Patriots had more total playoff wins.
