Ravens fire head coach John Harbaugh

John Harbaugh (Jeff Reese, Wikimedia Commons)

There was another National Football League head coach fired on Tuesday. After Pete Carroll, Jonathan Gannon, Kevin Stefanski and Raheem Morris were given pink slips over the last two days, the Baltimore Ravens fired head coach John Harbaugh of Toledo, Ohio.

On the surface, the firing of Harbaugh may come as a surprise. He has been the head coach of the Ravens for the last 18 seasons and has an overall record of 180 wins and 113 losses in 293 games for a winning percentage of .614.

Harbaugh also guide the Ravens to a Super Bowl title. In Super Bowl XLVII, the Ravens defeated the San Francisco 49ers 34-31 in a game best known as the Harbaugh Bowl. That is because John’s brother Jim coached the San Francisco 49ers at the time. Jim is the current coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, who were in the postseason, and will play the New England Patriots on Sunday night.

However, this past season the Ravens missed the playoffs at eight wins and nine losses. Their  postseason fate came down to the final play of the regular season when rookie kicker Tyler Loop missed a 44 yard field goal in a 26-24 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. A made field goal would have given the Ravens the AFC North Division title, a winning season, and a home playoff game against the Houston Texans on Monday night. Yes, folks, a hiring or firing of a head coach can literally come down to inches.

The Ravens were unable to make the playoffs despite having an elite quarterback (Lamar Jackson) and an elite running back (Derrick Henry) on their roster. In addition to making a coaching change, there are expectations the Ravens make personnel changes to their defense n the coming months.