Ravens Extend Super Bowl Winning Coach
In the midst of free agency, the Baltimore Ravens signed one of the most pivotal pieces to their success in recent years, but it isn't a player. Current Ravens head coach John Harbaugh has reached an agreement with the team to a three-year extension that contractually ties him to Baltimore through the 2028 season. Harbaugh has been under fire from fans for having success, but very little is coming in the playoffs as of recently. Harbaugh earned his first head coaching gig with the Ravens in 2008, winning Super Bowl XLVII and posting a 185-115 record, including playoffs, throughout his tenure.
John Harbaugh got his first NFL job as a special teams coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1998. At the time, many NFL executives believed special teams coaches were not suitable for head coach positions, so Harbaugh became the defensive backs coach for the Eagles in 2007 to increase his odds of being offered a job in the driver's seat. Little did John know the perfect job was right around the corner. The Baltimore Ravens hired Harbaugh to coach the Ravens in 2008.
When the Ravens fired Brian Billick in December of 2007 after a disappointing 5-11 season, the Ravens wanted to hire offensive coordinator Jason Garrett from the Cowboys. The Cowboys turned around and gave Garrett the assistant head coach position, which came with a raise to effectively pull him from the grasp of the Ravens’ wings, leading the Ravens to “settle” for a special teams coordinator turned defensive backs coach. This decision, in hindsight, seemed like the best decision that general manager Ozzie Newsome and owner Steve Bisciotti would make in history. Garrett would later become the head coach of the Cowboys and be fired, all during the duration of Harbaugh’s time coaching the Ravens.
Harbaugh drafted Joe Flacco in his first draft as head coach, who led the Ravens to the AFC Championship but lost to their rivals in the Pittsburgh Steelers and current head coach, Mike Tomlin. From 2008-2011, John Harbaugh and the Ravens, led by Joe Flacco, would make the playoffs in every season but fall short to AFC juggernauts Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, or Ben Roethlisberger. In 2012, the Ravens would hoist their franchise’s second Lombardi trophy after defeating the San Francisco 49ers 34-31 in Super Bowl XLVII. In Harbaugh’s first five years with the team, he posted a 54-26 regular season record, a 9-4 playoff record, and a Super Bowl victory.
From 2013-2017, the Ravens were in a rebuild. Without Ray Lewis and Ed Reed leading the defense, all eyes pointed to Joe Flacco to replicate his success from the first five years of his career. The Ravens, coached by Harbaugh, had an even 40-40 record and one playoff berth in five years. The worst season under Harbaugh was in 2015 when the Ravens posted a 5-11 record, the same record that got Billick fired 10 years before.
Harbaugh was not fired, but changes needed to be made. Harbaugh worked with the front office to get quarterback Lamar Jackson by trading back into the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft. Harbaugh would bench Flacco towards the end of the 2018 season for Jackson, and that was the momentum shift that made Harbaugh look so good. From Jackson’s first full year to the end of the most recent season, Harbaugh coached the Ravens to a 68-32 record, a 2019 AP NFL Coach of the Year, and an AFC Championship Game appearance. The Ravens’ playoff losses in recent years against the Chiefs and Bills have led many to believe that Lamar has playoff problems and that Harbaugh is making decisions that cost the Ravens games.
I would contend that we, as fans, don’t know what happens on the field or in the facility to prepare for games. Harbaugh has learned how to be a successful coach from his time with his father, Jack Harbaugh, at Western Michigan and Andy Reid with the Eagles, and has had many of his coordinators become competent head coaches for other clubs in the NFL. We should not be asking if John Harbaugh can coach. Instead, we should be wondering if he can use this new extension to help Lamar Jackson and the entire Ravens organization get back to the Super Bowl and prove the haters wrong once and for all.
