Getty ImagesEvery year it seems there’s a surprise firing in the NFL. Last year, it was former Buccaneers coach Lovie Smith. Some have speculated that Ravens coach John Harbaugh could be this year’s candidate for a bolt-from-the-blue termination.
As one source explained it, there’s “no chance” John Harbaugh will be let go by Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti. Via Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com, Harbaugh quietly has received at some point a contract extension that gives him security beyond 2017. Previously, John Harbaugh received a new contract prior to the 2013 season, after winning a Super Bowl. Rumors linking John Harbaugh to the Michigan job in 2014 may have resulted in his latest extension.
It’s possible, in theory, that Harbaugh could be inclined to move on after nine years in Baltimore. Regarded in league circles as even more intense and competitive than his brother Jim (but generally considered to be better at keeping it under control publicly), John Harbaugh potentially could reach a point at which he wants to move on, especially with the Rams job open and multiple coaches under contract with other teams reportedly interested. There’s currently no tangible reason, however, to believe that John Harbaugh has acquired a case of wanderlust.
Harbaugh took the Ravens to the playoffs in each of his first five seasons. Since then, the Ravens have made it to the playoffs only one out of four times. After reaching the final eight and nearly beating New England in the 2014 postseason, Baltimore has failed to make it to the playoffs in each of the last two years.
While that may result in some increased pressure for 2017, it’s not enough to make John Harbaugh this year’s surprise firing.
Which, of course, would definitely make it a surprise if he’s fired.
How can we expect it if it’s a surprise?
Very good coach.
Many teams could do worse and have.
Well we know he wont take the job for my Niners
Who is “some”? First I’ve heard it mentioned.
Leave a perennial competitor for Klown Kolledge in LA?
Nope.
He would be picked up by Buffalo, Jax or LA before the week was out…..Balt may need a change but John would have a job with good pay and final say if he wanted too…it would work out for both of them if he was the surprise firing….or better yet just trade him to LA…..
I mean….. with so few competent coaches out there the Ravens would be dumb to fire him. Probably a half dozen teams out there would want him immediately.
Surprise!!!!
Mike Zimmer.
and who would be worthy of replacing him?
this team plays hard for him, is not as talented as previous years teams and lacks playmakers
no reasonable person wants John gone
Mike McCheesburger in green Bay?
This reminds me of Philly and Andy Reid. How’s Philly been doing since he left? How about KC?
Hard to imagine Harbaugh being let go by the Ravens. The truth is, he is a far better coach than most of his peers despite not being near as good as he thinks he is.
.
Harbaugh made sure that Tom Brady is tanned, rested and ready for the Patriots playoff run. Harbaugh elevated Jimmy Garopollo’s trade value immeasurably. Harbaugh exposed the entire league office as a ship of fools.
Other than score a high draft choice, he’s done little to help the Ravens
.
He will be fired. Two years of no playoffs. What a joke of a coach
He just had his season ended by a team that had multiple players playing in their first nfl game. I report you decide.
Maybe not fired but a trade to LA?
There was talk LA was willing to trade for a coach.
their arrogance in 2012 when ray ray used antler spray, they scapegoated cam cameron, and did not pay flacco on schedule, has now caused their current cap hell.
in fact, one big reason 60% of the league is mediocre and another 35% of teams suck right now is balt’s arrogance.
flacco makes 20 mil per because ozzie never budgeted for him prior to their sb run in 2012, so they made their choice. and now? they can lie in the bed they made that has a big bag of poo in it.
The team would be absolutely insane to let him go anytime into the indefinite future.
It’s not his fault – it’s just FrameGate karma – keeping the Ravens, Colts and Jets (well, the Jets already seemed to have bad karma) out of the playoffs – with a little playoff denial for the Broncos mixed in for good measure
All these teams can’t accept that the reason they fail so often isn’t because “other teams are cheating” – it’s because they have bad owners and bad organizations and coaches who have a million excuses about why they “should” have won more Super Bowls
Until they change they’re own culture the best their fans can hope for is that Brady and the Patriots’ amazing consistency falls short of Super Bowl #5
Harwaugh is cursed by his role in Deflategate. He hasn’t been to the playoffs since and the football gods will make certain he never wins anything again.
Bisciotti made some curious comments a couple of years ago that made me think they don’t have the greatest relationship. If I was him, I’d move on because the current group has plateaued, and I think it will be a few years before they’ll be able to stock up enough to make another legit run. That Flacco contract certainly doesn’t help that.
If the Patriots fired Bill Belichick, okay that would be a surprise firing.
tylawspick6 says:
Dec 27, 2016 8:26 PM
their arrogance in 2012 when ray ray used antler spray, they scapegoated cam cameron, and did not pay flacco on schedule, has now caused their current cap hell.
in fact, one big reason 60% of the league is mediocre and another 35% of teams suck right now is balt’s arrogance.
flacco makes 20 mil per because ozzie never budgeted for him prior to their sb run in 2012, so they made their choice. and now? they can lie in the bed they made that has a big bag of poo in it.
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If anyone doesn’t know what dumb is ….just read that post by the Pride of the Patriots…….what a putz.
Guy would have a HC job the next day if they were dumb enough to can him. He’s a very good coach.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
Come meet our brand new … soon to be ex-coach (enter name here)!
I think the league and fans have a serious issue with the whole coach carousel.
Can we please have a moment of silence for all these poor, persecuted Patriots fans that still come running to posts like these to share their pain?
PS- Harbaugh ain’t going anywhere.
Also doesn’t help when you give Joe Flacco a $30 mil a year contract – and then to lower the cap hit give Flacco a $66 mil extension AFTER he had an ACL injury
Flacco frankly doesn’t look the same – but in fairness spending a total of $115 mil on Flacco thus far – plus nearly another $100 mil in the coming years – doesn’t give you a lot of cap space to hire a quality 53 man roster
In other words, he’s been just good enough ofr the last 4 years – and not more- to keep his job.
imagine if bisciotti was not aware framegate was
going down?
i can see that possibly being a reason they would
cut this arrogant turd loose, sooner rather than later, but i think that
used car salesman sleaze bucket bisciotti was in on it.
i also don’t think two members of the same
organization should be on the comp. committe either
In spite of his whiney, snivelling, excuse making demeanor, he is a top 10 coach. Probably top 5. I doubt he’ll get fired this yr, but he’ll be on the hot seat next yr, extension or not. Since the SBowl win, the Ravens have gone 8-8, 10-6, 5-11, 8-7. With 1 playoff win. Could be time for a change towards what everyone thinks is a plumb job in LA, and a fresh start.
I’m a Pittsburgh resident. There are few coaches I respect more. Can’t stand the Ravens but totally respect how hard and tough they almost always play.
My guess would be it’s Rivera this year. Any time you have a coach and qb publicly squabbling it’s usual a death sentence for the coach.
Hope that happens because I’d take Rivera any day of the week when Mike McCoy gets let go
a top 10 coach in a crap
league with fat, happy and lazy owners in charge, ain’t saying much
I know not this ‘some’ you speak that have speculated Harbaugh could be shown the door. While no one is as good as Harbaugh thinks he is he is a damn good coach and there certainly isn’t anyone better hanging about clamoring for that job. You don’t give up on very good unless you can trade up to great. Short of the team tuning him out, and there is plenty of evidence they haven’t, what’s to be gained by firing him when there isn’t a better candidate available?
The Immaculate Extension!
#7 on your team cheats !
#15 Patriots
Yeah because teams with instability at head coach are always so successful you should fire your super bowl winning head coach because he didn’t land them in the Super Bowl this year. Im a Steelers fan and seen 3 head coaches in my life time. They have a plan they stick to it and see it through. The Bills firing Rex Ryan just set that team back again. You don’t bring in a new coach and voila have an optimized championship caliber roster. It takes a good 4-5 years to build a legit contender through the draft that can compete year in and year out.
John Harbaugh is like Marty. Consistently there every year. No way I can Harbaugh.
Ridiculous. He’s not going anywhere.
I’m a Ravens fan and I can tell you that I’ve never talked with anyone who is sane that isn’t sold on Harbaugh. After 2012 when he first Cam C and led this team to victory, all the while curbing his ego and letting Ed and Ray lead the crew to an extent….he’s just a great leader for our team in Baltimore. Many of us would be devastated if he wasn’t the Ravens coach. The Ravens are not far away from being a great team again, and even though we didn’t make the playoffs most people feel good about where we are going. We do need the draft a QB for the future though!
I mean’t “Fired” Cam C
He won’t be fired, but he probably should have.
You have to think about the future, not the past when you make decisions. This is why they are in the Joe Flacco situation.
Is there reason to believe the Ravens will be BETTER next year? No. Steve Smith is most likely gone. Terrell Suggs will be a year older. There’s no game-changing corners in the draft.
You have to think that Denver will get things turned around. Oakland, Tennessee and Kansas City will still be there. Indianapolis and Houston may be better next year. I wouldn’t bet on Miami being back in the playoffs next season, but who knows. And then you have the usual New England and Pittsburgh. The Bills have been in the mix until the final weeks the last three years with Kyle Orton at QB and Rex Ryan as a coach.
You have to evaluate whether Harbaugh has what it takes to go through the whole process again with a new group of guys. We know what he did with the Flacco/Lewis/Rice/Ngata/Reed/Suggs era team. That team is mostly gone. Is he going to be around for another 5 years to rebuild a new core? I just don’t see it.
Everyone who makes the decisions within the Ravens is on the same page with the culture of stability that has been created. The only position on the coaching staff that needs to be addressed is an offensive coordinator that understands Joe Flacco’ s strengths and weaknesses.
decent coach.
riverhorsey says:
Dec 27, 2016 8:57 PM
John Harbaugh is like Marty. Consistently there every year. No way I can Harbaugh.
___________________________________
If by “every year” you mean once in the past four years, then sure, he’s there every year. Not a great coach, more of a cheerleader guy.
Joe Flacco contract – Delaware sux!
Im gonna say John Fox, Ron Rivera, Chuck Pagano, Mike McCoy and MAYBE Chip Kelly
I can’t figure out why the Rams job is believed to be so attractive. You’ll be a doormat to the Seahawks tasked to turn Goff into an NFL QB(which probably isn’t gonna happen) and then be fired after three years when Goff fails.
Why would any coach want to leave a team where he already has a franchise QB?
What? Some people thought this might happen? Do they know anything about football?
Who would fire a top 5 HC? Like, the only team stupid enough to do that is San Francisco. Look at how well that worked out for them so far.
Wait wasn’t he once a Special Teams coach?
Why does Baltipoor’s ST suck so bad?
It could be:
Browns
Jets
49ers
Chargers
Bears
Colts
Don’t worry. I don’t expect anything that surprises me.
Harbs is OK. Unfortunately, many of the assistants aren’t. In fairness to the Ravens org, many very good coaches have been hired away over the past dozen years. It’s not easy to reload every year.
More than coaching, Baltimore has one of the weakest O Lines in the league. When you compare the O Lines from Oakland, Dallas, New England, & Pittsburgh, Flacco is clearly at a disadvantage.
Jerk
Sorry not all of those coaches will be fired. Just making some who I think might be fired
No way he goes. I think he is top 2 on the whiners list, but he’s also top 5 on the can coach list. If he leaves, it’s on him and his choice alone, looking for a fresh start.
Although competitive, their record hasn’t been all that great since SB win in 2012.
He could probably make more money and get a 3-4 year deal somewhere else. Imagine him in JAX with their young, talented roster, and a much worse division than the AFC North.
With all that said, he’s got a good paying, steady job right now and I don’t see him walking away
Take over the Bills. They have probably the most talent on defense in the league. So go there, bring Jim Schwarts with you (who was the defensive coach in buffalo when they were ranked 4th best 2 years ago). Find yourself a good offensive coordinator and go from there.
The Ravens were two dropped passes in the end zone and nine seconds away from sweeping Pittsburgh again and being in the playoffs. The Ravens personnel department has been the primary reason for the downturn. They let go of quality players (Osemele & McPhee) and invest too much time in high round draft flops like Arthur Brown. This years flop is Kamalei Correa while they lost Victor Ochi on the practice squad. In the meantime the Steelers draft LeVeon Bell and Antonio Brown while the Ravens have Buck Allen and Breshard Perriman. IMO another coach doesn’t win half as many games.
If anyone should be in the hot seat in Baltimore, it’s Ozzie.
John can’t be blamed for the lack of talent on the roster. He’s just the coach.
Amazing how success can skew expectation. Harbaugh with track record of success on hot seat for recent down years. Buffalo would take his down years in a heartbeat.
Put things in perspective people!
The Ravens were playing for a division title on Christmas!
Even after the loss, Baltimore is 4-1 in the division, with a chance to be 5-1 this week.
Smart NFL fans would LOVE that. Most years 1 division loss is enough to take the division. This year it’ didn’t. Tough, but such is life.
Harbaugh will be fine and should be in no danger of losing his job. Especially if the NFL expands the playoffs by 1 or 2 more spots like it’s been talking…