The last game of regular season in the NFL, week 18 featured the visiting Baltimore Ravens at the Pittsburgh Steelers for all the marbles. The winner would win the AFC North and clinch a playoff spot at the same time. When division rivals go at it in a game where it means more than just bragging rights, most of the time it will be a solid game. This game did not disappoint as it had several lead changes and came down to the very end. The Ravens drove the length of the field and set up their rookie kicker, Tyler Loop, for his biggest kick of his career so far. It was a 44 yard field goal and if he makes it, Ravens are in the playoffs. He missed it. The Ravens would be eliminated from post-season and in the aftermath of the situation, the collateral damage is Baltimore fired their head coach, John Harbaugh. Due to the Ravens missing the playoffs, is what they are saying.

John Harbaugh had the second longest tenure of any head coach in the NFL with 18 years. Only Mike Tomlin & the team that eliminated the Ravens for the Pittsburgh Steelers has the longest tenure in the league. Harbaugh started in 2008 as he compiled up 180 regular season victories as the Ravens head coach. His regular season record was 180-113 which is impressive. His Ravens teams had 11 double-digit win seasons in his tenure. By far he is the best head coach in Ravens history. He guided the Ravens to the franchise’s second Superbowl title back in 2012 when the Ravens knocked off the San Francisco 49ers. The head coach at the time was his brother Jim. In 18 seasons his team made the post-season 12 times. He has guided the Ravens to 8 AFC North titles. He was named NFL Coach of the Year back in 2019. In post-season he will leave the franchise with a winning record of 13-11. With Lamar Jackson, John was 3-5 in those post-season battles.

Lamar Jackson may be one of the best duel threat quarterbacks of all-time. In 8 seasons in the NFL, Lamar with his arm has thrown 187 touchdown passes to 56 interceptions. He has used his legs to score 35 rushing touchdowns. He has ran for over 6,500 yards. He has the most 100 yard rushing games as a quarterback all-time with 14. In regular season when he starts, the Ravens are 76-31 with him. As an AFC quarterback he has mastered the NFC with a record 24-4 against that conference in his 8 seasons so far. He is a 2x MVP of the NFL. He made 4 Pro-Bowls while racking up many other football awards. He has helped the Ravens win 4 AFC North titles which is half of his playing career. However in post-season, he has a record of 3-5 with an AFC Championship appearance.

The Ravens started off the season 1-5. They righted the ship and eventually got back to a 6-5 record. Which they dug themselves out of that hole. They ended up 8-9 with the loss to Pittsburgh. If it was not for back up quarterback Tyler Huntley, they would have been eliminated weeks ago. The Ravens back up quarterback who did all the right things even though most of the time he fed his beast running back Derrick Henry the ball in that victory in Green Bay versus the Packers in week 17. That was a much needed victory for the Ravens because the Steelers lost to the Browns which set that final game, winner takes all. Huntley went 2-0 as a starter this season for the Ravens as he also beat the Bears. Lamar Jackson went 6-7 as the starter for the Ravens this season. He had multiple injuries he dealt with this year with the hamstring and the back. The Ravens once again this season blew a few games where they had double digit leads. John Harbaugh has lost 26 games as the head coach where he has seen his team blow double digit leads. Everyone remembers what Josh Allen did to the Ravens in week one with that unbelievable comeback by the Bills. Who’s fault is that for these blown leads over the last several years: Jackson or Harbaugh?

Lamar Jackson to me in some of those games where the Ravens blew the lead of these games is on the sideline laughing it up with teammates always thinking they have everything in the bag. It was week one when Lamar pushed the Buffalo fan back in his seat after the Ravens scored the touchdown to build a bigger lead. That Bills fan smacked his receiver in his helmet, DeAndre Hopkins, after he caught the touchdown. Why is your leader going after the fan? Because he ruined the touchdown celebration? Would Michael Jordan hit a fan? No, he would get his player out of harm’s way and use the situation as motivation to win the game. Lamar has that too cool for school vibe where he’s more about his own image than anyone else. One Baltimore writer wrote before Christmas that he’s an overgrown kid trapped in a man’s body. If anyone is critical of the great Jackson, he becomes withdrawn which a kid would do. He looks withdrawn when he wears a hoodie sweatshirt and snow parka always on the sideline during cold games. Looks like the little kid in A Christmas Story wearing the snow suit who can hardly walk. The Ravens have their own set of rules for Jackson different than the rest of the team. The article also said Jackson falls asleep in meetings because he stays up too late playing video games. Jackson only shows up to things like mandatory camps for one day or so, and then is not seen. He is a quarterback that often gets hurt. Why not put the controller down for awhile and work on your own body? Your temple. No way he will play close to his 40’s or into his 40’s like a Tom Brady. Because he is not taking care of what God has gifted him, the talent to play quarterback in the NFL.

John Harbaugh won the Superbowl with Joe Flacco. Lamar Jackson is a 10 times better quarterback than Flacco who is still playing. Harbaugh had pressure too from the front office to fire his offensive coordinator, Todd Monken. Maybe the offensive coordinator is responsible for calling a conservative game plan with his team in the lead by double digit points. The Ravens defense has been a liability the last two seasons. Harbaugh’s teams usually played solid defense most of his tenure. The Ravens miss Mike Macdonald who has Seattle with the number one seed in the NFC. Macdonald took the Seattle head coach job before the 2024 season as he is in his second season. Look at Seattle’s defense. Look at Seattle’s quarterback, Sam Darnold, who’s not the best in the league. He was coined a number one draft bust until last year when he finally clicked and had a monster year for the Vikings.

This is why 7 teams called about John Harbaugh 45 minutes after he was let go by the Ravens. Teams like the Giants, Jets, Titans, Browns, Cardinals, and Raiders all need head coaches & will be kicking the tires on Harbaugh. Then you’ve got teams like Miami and perhaps Cincinnati who may fire their current coach to get Harbaugh. Now through the grapevine, we hear Harbaugh did not see eye to eye with Jackson who is coddled by the front office. They say Harbaugh was losing the entire locker room because the head coach and quarterback were almost never on the same page. All this could be hearsay. I think if Harbaugh has a good defense and middle tier quarterback, he can win another Superbowl with another team. The Cleveland situation looks great having that defense. Myles Garrett reminds you of Ray Lewis. The QB situation dealing with the rapist in Deshaun Watson or another duel threat who is not very good in Shedeur Sanders is a worse situation than what you went through with Lamar. How about Joe Burrow and the Bengals? That would be interesting. He would need the entire Bengals defense to be revamped. All the money in Cincinnati is tied up with the offense. That would be a cool story if Harbaugh took a job with one of the teams in the same division as the Ravens. The Raiders job could be interesting with the number one pick. Dealing with Tom Brady and the rest of the Raiders ownership who fires head coaches for sport could be something you stay away from. I think he could take the New York Giants job. Having a young Jaxson Dart as your QB in year two. The Giants have some pieces on the defensive side of the ball. A few young playmakers are coming off season injuries. Which coach is going to get through Lamar Jackson’s muppet mind set? I like John Harbaugh’s chances to win his second Superbowl before Jackson can get to the dance. I’m not talking about dirty dancing with his teammates in the end zone with plenty of time on the clock for the other team to come back. Let’s remember Jackson in crunch time after teams come back on him will fold like a house of cards more than drive his team down the sideline for the victory. After the game he can forget about it and play some Donkey Kong.