I want to talk about John Harbaugh.
I want to separate fact from conjecture up front, however. As far as fact is concerned, Harbaugh is one of the greatest coaches in football history. He’s a top-25 NFL coach all-time in terms of games won. He’s a Super Bowl champion. He’s one of just six coaches in history to have both made the playoffs at least 10 times and in at least two-thirds of the seasons in which he’s coached. He’s won frequently and consistently and significantly.
Those things are facts.
The conjecture is usually predicated on a fact. We’ve talked about it before. It is also factual that Harbaugh has won just one playoff game since the end of the 2014 season. That’s fact. But it turns to conjecture when Ravens fans take it a step further and say something along the lines of “and he’ll never get back to that level” or “the Ravens will never win another Super Bowl as long as John Harbaugh is coach” or even a more measured response like “I just think his time has come and gone” or “his style simply doesn’t work anymore.”
That’s all conjecture. And much of it popped up again in the aftermath of the Ravens’ stunning 17-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers Oct. 8. And … look, I get it.
There is a percentage of the fan base that is so convinced that Harbaugh is no longer the answer that they are both desperate to hear others share that opinion and infuriated when someone won’t. Look, I took my recycling out Sunday night and felt the need to immediately toss five layers worth of hoodies on, but I promise you that scorching hot takes about the Ravens’ head coach won’t keep you warm for the winter.
If we’re being honest with ourselves, it’s actually a bit silly that this is what we’re talking about after a game in which the Ravens’ skill position players dropped more passes than I did pre-10 a.m. college classes. That’s the story of the game. But I get it.
The Ravens’ loss to the Steelers was as inexcusable and unacceptable as any in the Harbaugh era if not the history of the franchise. They were clearly better than their opponent and had a golden opportunity to start seizing control of the division. At one point in the first half, it looked like they might actually have the opportunity to attain an all-too-rare skull-dragging of their rivals.
This was the type of loss that makes you ask questions about unmeasurable factors like “heart.” And yeah, it makes you question other factors like leadership, too. Harbaugh didn’t necessarily cost the Ravens the win with any single decision. Yet for many reasons, it is reasonable to question his role in all of this.
Take, for example, the quandary late in the second quarter. It’s certainly not Harbaugh’s fault that Tyler Linderbaum snapped the ball on fourth down. It is clear now that the Ravens were merely trying to draw the Steelers offside to get a free first down and Linderbaum believed they had it, so he unexpectedly snapped the ball. As disastrous as the result was, it all kinda checks out.
Except for the part where the risk wasn’t worth the reward. That snap came with 20 seconds left in the half. Even if the Ravens actually had received the free first down and extra 5 yards, they would have been 18 yards away with less than 20 seconds and one timeout (that they would have needed to save to set up a field goal). While they could have earned a couple of shots at the end zone by successfully drawing the Steelers offside, the likelihood of successfully converting it into a touchdown was low.
There was no reason to even participate in the exercise at that point. There was no consequential advantage to be found. To be fair, the risk should have been minimal. It is inexcusable that the ball could have been snapped without a defender essentially making contact with an offensive player, but there was risk nonetheless. Given how negligible the advantage of the best-case scenario was, there’s no defending it anywhere, but particularly not on the road against a division rival when leading 10-3 late in the half.
That play alone did not lose the game. It’s hard to say it was even as critical as many of the drops. But something else that falls back on Harbaugh is even more perplexing. At the point at which Larry Ogunjobi forced a Justice Hill fumble (5:31 remaining in the second quarter), the Ravens not only led the game 10-0, they had outgained the Steelers 192-63. From that point forward, they were outscored 17-0 and outgained 223-143.
They handled adversity roughly as well as Mario Cristobal handles success. When Patrick Queen said “same old scenario every time, I’m pretty sick of it” postgame, this has to be what he meant. In recent seasons, when things have gotten away from the Ravens, they’ve tended to really get away from the Ravens. They handled adversity poorly against the Colts in Week 3 … and we’d probably not like to talk about the multiple double-digit leads they surrendered a year ago. When things start going wrong, nothing seems to stop things from going wrong.
Perhaps there’s a bigger problem with leadership among the players on the field, too. But this is a coaching issue at the end of the day. There has to be a better feel for these moments and how to reverse them. There’s no way around it.
Suggesting that a 3-2 team should fire their 16-year, Super Bowl-winning head coach is so absurd that it truly isn’t worthy of conversation. But we’ve reached the “you’ll be measured by this” portion of the conversation regarding Harbaugh. If the Ravens fall a game or two short of reaching their goals this season, this trend could prove to be a determining factor in terms of John Harbaugh’s future.
This has to change and it has to change immediately. Until proven otherwise, this is once again a crucial part of the story of the Ravens.
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