This coming Tuesday, Ravens team owner Steve Bisciotti will meet with the media to do an interview with reporters for the first time in four years, per a report from The Athletic, featuring Dianna Russini, Jeff Zrebiec, and Ian O’Connor. The topic of discussion will center around his ultimate decision to dismiss John Harbaugh, the head coach of the past 18 seasons and only the third head coach in the franchise’s 30-year history. 
Harbaugh’s tenure as the head coach in Baltimore came to an end following a loss in the team’s regular season finale that determined if the Ravens would have a winning record, win the AFC North, and make the playoffs in 2025. The following day, Harbaugh met early Monday morning with general manager Eric DeCosta, executive vice president (and former general manager) Ozzie Newsome, and team president Sashi Brown. The meeting was intended to be a discussion about Harbaugh’s vision for the team and staff moving forward, and though an “unsettled” feeling hung in the room, the thought was still that momentum was moving in the right direction for Harbaugh.
Following the meeting, Harbaugh led a final team meeting with 2025’s roster and roamed around the locker room as players cleaned out their lockers and said goodbyes for the offseason. Many of the players in the building reportedly expected some level of change at the assistant coach or coordinator level, but expectations were that Harbaugh would be returning.
The next day, Bisciotti reportedly began to meet with multiple players throughout the day to discuss their thoughts on Harbaugh and the direction of the team, with one player even reportedly meeting at Bisciotti’s house for the discussion. Like has been seen from differing reports between NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and ESPN’s Adam Schefter, even the players inside the building had different views of Harbaugh and his hold on the locker room, which perhaps speaks to his actual hold on the locker room.
There had been noticeable grumbling throughout the year about the coaching staff, most notably concerning Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Todd Monken. Per a joint report from ESPN’s Jamison Hensley and Jeremy Fowler, players showed particular discontent with Monken’s playcalling. Some disagreement on the team’s run/pass balance, targets for certain pass catchers, and star running back Derrick Henry‘s usage was heard throughout the year. Any vocalization of these issues likely rang loud in Bisciotti’s ear as Harbaugh appeared willing to run it all back with the coordinators returning to their roles next year.
The biggest point of concern, in terms of lack of connection, was Harbaugh and Monken’s connection to star quarterback Lamar Jackson. The two sides respected and admired each other, as they would frequently support and defend each other to the media throughout the years, but they often appeared to be on different pages, with Harbaugh and Monken struggling to understand Jackson, who would reportedly internalize frustrations. With Bisciotti and players in the locker room looking to Jackson as one who holds the franchise’s future in his hands, the coaching duos inability to truly get on the same page with him proved detrimental.
Following his meetings with players Tuesday evening, Bisciotti called Harbaugh as the coach drove home for the day and informed him of his decision. A day was given to let emotions subside, then Harbaugh met with Bisciotti on Thursday to hear the owner’s explanation for his decision. An annual meeting after the season is the usual for Bisciotti and Harbaugh, but with the possibility of a full coaching search on the horizon, prompter action became a necessity. 
Harbaugh is reportedly at peace with the decision and has moved on to search for new opportunities to be a head coach elsewhere. Upon his dismissal, he immediately became the top option for several teams looking to fill a vacancy, and though many have reached out to express interest, Jay Glazer of FOX Sports reports that Harbaugh will take the weekend to narrow down the interviews he will take to three or four teams.
In looking for clues on which teams may get a slice of his time, Russini notes that Harbaugh is spending today and the next few days watching film specifically on rookie quarterbacks Jaxson Dart and Cam Ward, while staying in communication with decision-makers from both the Giants and Titans along with members from his own most-recent coaching staff. This is a critical part of the evaluation of head coaching candidates for those teams, as Russini adds that one of the first three questions each team is asking candidates is what their plan is for the young passers.
Ever since he became available the Giants have made it known that Harbaugh at the top of their wish list, and the research he’s putting into Dart suggests he may have mutual interest. The Titans don’t have any obvious connection to Harbaugh, but general manager Mike Borgonzi shares an ex-coworker in Andy Reid with Harbaugh. Borgonzi and Harbaugh’s shared relationships with Reid may lend to familiarity in culture and approach. And if Harbaugh had any issues deciphering Jackson’s internalized frustrations, Ward has had no trouble being extremely vocal about his own. We’ll see if each team makes Harbaugh’s final three or four interviews and who may join them.
It’s simple. Mike McDonald. He left and their defense has fallen apart. Worse, the records of 10-7 and 14-3 were achieved with Geno Smith and Sam Darnold, both who turned the ball over at a high rate including Darnold leading the league this year while Harbaugh managed 11-6 and 8-9 with one of the best QBs in the league. The defense has greatly regressed, and I think he was thinking if he wants to make a move for Minter or find someone else better than him even, now was the time to pull the trigger.
I think it’s simpler than that-Todd Monken. If Harbaugh said, “Yeah, I think that we could change some things on offense at the coordinator spot” or if Bischiotti told him that they needed to change coordinators and he agreed, then Harbaugh would have stayed on.
I am puzzled, though, why so much is being made of Monken’s playcalling in these articles and not Orr’s. Few articles, if any, mentioned Orr at all. I also can’t think of any “younger, more talented players” that are on offense and not started for Harbaugh for a few years already. It seems like those players are on defense (such as Hamilton), which would seem to implicate Orr in some way. We’re all just speculating, though, at the end of the day.
But it’s deeper than that. Orr was terrible, and he was apparently not even in discussion to be fired. If Harbaugh actually believed that was fine, I would have fired him too as much as I like him as a coach.
So that’s not really a Harbaugh thing though as he doesn’t call the defense.
You can blame him for hiring a guy who came up through their team after an early retirement in Orr. But that would be a much bigger issue than anything Harbaugh or Monken did during the season. Orr was terrible whether or not the defense was healthy. A lot of the offenses issues lie with the fact that guys were injured. Lamar had been injured since week 5 or 6. Which if folks want to pretend that’s not a significant issue, you’re delusional. Lamar showed without mobility he can sling it but it also takes away a significant part of his game and what the offense can do.
I think the issues with Monken are about not running the ball more, and it goes back to the AFC championship game two years ago. What did they run the ball that day, five or six times all day? Sometimes, a fatal mistake like that will have people not trust you, and then he did it again in big spots this year. i thought he was mostly a net positive for their offense, but those would be my speculation as to why he was the one getting flack. It’s like the Steelers fired Bruce Arians for not running the ball enough. They have a vision of how they want their team to be.
Injuries. Lamar: every time he’s gotten hurt it has wrecked the team’s trajectory for the season. Hamilton: I’m convinced Ravens win the division if he finishes that game.
The collective shock of Harbaugh’s actual firing speaks volumes — but it was going to happen eventually. Hard to imagine the Ravens ever being so bad that firing Harbaugh would be “easy.” But if the standard is championships, as Bisciotti said, he just wasn’t getting it done.
Now Tomlin is on the clock.
Two words; Editor
Sounds like the issue is Lamar Jackson. And since it’s easier to fire the HC than the starting QB, Harbaugh was shown the door. Good luck with that Baltimore.
So who was to blame when he did the same thing in 2008 with Billick?
Al Davis said it best: “Just win baby”
Jackson is an underachiever who also struggles to play a full season.
The 2x MVP is an underachiever? In the playoffs sure, but it’s been consistent in the Harbaugh era to choke. It took a few freak plays for Flacco to pull out the SB.
Don’t bother. You can tell that some of these people still have their panties in a bunch that they were wrong on him coming into the league and won’t let it go. Harbaugh missed the playoffs four of five years before he got Jackson including some brutal similar breakdowns like that year the Bengals scored on the last play to eliminate them. He has 28 duble double digit second half and 18 fourth quarter blown leads, and a lot of that precedes Jackson. Bisciotti admitted he was going to fire him in 2018. That day just finally came, and he needs to address those flaws of why his teams are so mentally soft in his next stop. It was the right move, and I don’t think it had to do with anything but that he might have let the next best thing get out of the building with McDonald. Lions probably looking at Dan Campbell the same way after tonight’s comeback by the Bears.
It doesn’t matter. Owner is blind to the flaws (namely low qb IQ) of Jackson he chose what he thinks is the elite franchise qb over his coach. Jackson has proven time and time again he doesn’t have that “IT” factor that will lead the Ravens anywhere.
Obviously you know nothing about football. Harbaugh hasn’t won anything since the Super Bowl that he lucked into. Zach Orr was probably the worst DC in the entire NFL and Harbaugh refused to replace him.
Lmao, the future Hall of Fame two-time MVP is low IQ. Tell us more. You must think football is rocket science or something in the first place, which is disturbing to even think that to begin with.