Andy BackstromContributing writer

Wed, January 7, 2026 at 3:31 AM UTC·

7 min read

As Baltimore Ravens kicker Tyler Loop sailed a potential game-winning 44-yard field goal wide right Sunday night, pandemonium erupted in Pittsburgh's Acrisure Stadium.

The missed field-goal attempt that decided the AFC North title also set off a chain reaction that could affect the NFL landscape for years to come.

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The Steelers won the division, not the Ravens. And now, two days later, John Harbaugh is searching for a new job.

The Ravens moved on from Harbaugh Tuesday, marking the end to his 18-season run at the helm in Baltimore, where he led the Ravens to a 180-113 record, complete with a Super Bowl XLVII victory in the 2012 season, 12 playoff appearances and six AFC North championships.

Harbaugh, 63, is already commanding serious attention on the market. He'll have a fresh start somewhere else soon if he wants it, but it's also worth looking back at his nearly two decades in Baltimore.

Harbaugh cut his teeth as an emerging coach in the third phase of the game. Before his nine-season tenure as the Philadelphia Eagles' special teams coordinator from 1998-2006, he coached special teams at Morehead State, Cincinnati and Indiana.

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Head-coaching jobs in the NFL are often reserved for offensive and defensive coordinators, but Baltimore owner Steve Bisciotti made the outside-the-box hire in 2008 to replace Brian Billick.

Harbaugh was brought in to jolt the Ravens' culture, and he did just that while immediately returning Baltimore to NFL prominence.

The Ravens made the AFC championship four times under Harbaugh, including three times in his first five seasons as head coach.

That stretch nearly showcased a storybook trip to the Super Bowl in his first season steering the ship. With rookie Joe Flacco at quarterback, the upstart Ravens reached the conference title game before falling to Mike Tomlin's Steelers 23-14. Flacco threw three interceptions in that game, most notably a pick-6 by safety Troy Polamalu.

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Four seasons later, Flacco posted a perfect 11:0 touchdown-to-interception ratio when he piloted the Ravens on a Super Bowl run that culminated with a triumph over the San Francisco 49ers, who were coached by John Harbaugh's younger brother Jim at the time.

In the process, Flacco tied Joe Montana's NFL record for most touchdown passes without throwing an interception in a single postseason. And Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis went out on top, finishing his Pro Football Hall of Fame career with his second ring upon returning from a torn right triceps injury.

A memorable 2012 season that ended in rings for the Ravens also marked the end of linebacker Ray Lewis' illustrious career. (Photo by Robert Beck /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)

After that Super Bowl campaign, the Ravens produced only two winning seasons from 2013-17, and they made the playoffs just once in that five-year span.

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By 2018, the debate over whether Flacco was elite had cobwebs hanging over the then-record-breaking, six-year, $120.6 million deal he signed after he won Super Bowl MVP. He still hadn't made a Pro Bowl, and a midseason injury provided an opening for the Ravens' new rookie quarterback, 2016 Heisman winner Lamar Jackson.

Jackson, whom Baltimore traded up to pick out of Louisville at the end of the first round of the 2018 draft, starred in Flacco's place at just 21 years old.

When Flacco healed up, Harbaugh stuck with Jackson, who went 6-1 in his first seven regular-season starts while piling up 556 rushing yards. When Jackson struggled in a wild-card playoff loss to the Los Angeles Chargers that season, Harbaugh didn't listen to fans calling for Flacco.

It was a watershed moment in franchise history. Harbaugh handed the baton to Jackson, and the dual-threat superstar ran with it.

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Jackson quickly affirmed Harbaugh's decision by winning the first of his two NFL MVP awards in 2019.

That season, he threw for 36 touchdowns and rushed for 1,206 yards — the most yards a quarterback has ever recorded on the ground in a single season — plus the Ravens went 14-2.

Except when Baltimore face-planted against the Tennessee Titans in the divisional round of the playoffs, questions soon surfaced about Jackson's playoff deficiencies.

He's facing some of those same questions now, eight seasons into his career.

Jackson, who also earned league MVP honors in 2023 and contended in 2024, is a mere 3-5 in playoff games. He's thrown only three more touchdowns (10) than interceptions (seven) in those outings.

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It's not all on him, of course.

The Ravens made the AFC championship during the 2023 season after a 13-4 season, but wide receiver Zay Flowers fumbled just before the goal line, costing Baltimore a fourth-quarter touchdown in a 17-10 loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. Last season, veteran tight end Mark Andrews lost a fumble and then dropped a pass on a two-point conversion attempt in a two-point defeat to the Buffalo Bills during the AFC divisional round.

During Harbaugh's and Jackson's eight seasons together, the Ravens made the playoffs six times, won four division titles and earned a pair of No. 1 seeds in the AFC.

With Jackson's dynamism at quarterback and a defense that ranked top 10 in fewest points per game allowed in all but two of those go-arounds, it's hard to ignore those missed opportunities.

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The 2025 season was a particularly trying one for a Baltimore team that entered with Super Bowl aspirations and then spiraled into a 1-5 start. Injuries played a role all year, including to Jackson. Monken's offense was inconsistent, Zach Orr's defense regressed, and Harbaugh's decision-making was under the microscope, most recently when Derrick Henry didn't receive a carry in the final 12 minutes of a Week 16 loss to the New England Patriots.

Ray Rice, a 2008 second-round pick from Rutgers, led the team in rushing from 2009-13. But the Ravens cut the three-time Pro Bowler in 2014, after he was captured on video attacking his now-wife, Janay, in a domestic violence incident that ultimately led to the end of his playing career.

Rice was initially suspended for just two games by the NFL, which claimed not to have seen the video at the time the punishment was issued. But when video became public, that suspension turned indefinite. The league's mishandling of the situation led to serious backlash toward NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and sparked conversation about the league's disciplinary policies.

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Although Rice was reinstated, he didn't play in another NFL game.

Last year, the Ravens found themselves in the spotlight again. This time, they released eight-time All-Pro kicker Justin Tucker, who was accused by several massage therapists of sexually inappropriate behavior during bodywork sessions from 2012-16. The NFL suspended Tucker without pay for the first 10 weeks of the 2025 season, but he went unsigned this season.

In May, Harbaugh described the decision to cut Tucker after 13 seasons with the kicker as a "complex" one. He added that the move was "a football decision."

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Harbaugh and Tomlin faced each other 44 times over the past 18 seasons. The Steelers held a 23-17 advantage in regular-season matchups against the Ravens in that span.

The teams split their four playoff games against each other.

Baltimore knocked Pittsburgh out of the wild-card round last season. This year, the Steelers are playing in the wild-card round because they swept the Ravens in the regular season.