Baltimore and Harbaugh had seemed close to a breakup years ago, during a three-plus season lull that followed the tremendous success experienced at the onset of his tenure.
In his first season, 2008, Harbaugh led the team all the way to the AFC Championship Game with a rookie Joe Flacco, kicking off a five-year stretch of consecutive playoff berths that was finally concluded with a Super Bowl victory.
Following an 8-8 season during a Super Bowl hangover in 2013 and a loss in the Divisional Round the following campaign, the Ravens failed to reach the postseason from 2015-17.
Heading into a Week 10 bye week at 4-5 in 2018, a split felt imminent. Only Harbaugh then handed the reins to Jackson, at the time a first-round rookie, and the Ravens rattled off wins in six of their last seven to take the AFC North.
In partnership with Jackson, Harbaugh and the Ravens re-emerged as yearly threats, missing the playoffs only in the 2021 season and this most recent one. Still, each of those postseason trips ended in disappointment, seemingly capped by a Divisional Round ceiling outside the ’23 campaign.
Jackson has won two MVPs, but he dealt with a string of injuries from 2021-22 that contributed to murkiness over a potential extension in the 2023 offseason. One was eventually struck, though questions about his place in Baltimore were again raised during an injury-plagued downturn for the Ravens this season. He also declined to address his future immediately following the season-ending loss to the Steelers.
That will now be something for general manager Eric DeCosta and another head coach to answer.
Harbaugh, 63, only the third coach in Ravens history, will certainly be a candidate for any other team with a vacancy across the league.
The Ravens will move on in search of their fourth head coach in its 30-year history, hoping this season’s setback was temporary and needing to find a way to go from so close for so many years to Super Bowl winner soon.
