Jamison HensleyCloseJamison HensleyESPN Staff WriterJamison Hensley is a reporter covering the Baltimore Ravens for ESPN. Jamison joined ESPN in 2011, covering the AFC North before focusing exclusively on the Ravens beginning in 2013. Jamison won the National Sports Media Association Maryland Sportswriter of the Year award in 2018, and he authored a book titled: Flying High: Stories of the Baltimore Ravens. He was the Ravens beat writer for the Baltimore Sun from 2000-2011.Follow on XJeremy FowlerCloseJeremy Fowlersenior NFL national reporterJeremy Fowler is a senior national NFL writer for ESPN, covering the entire league including breaking news. Jeremy also contributes to SportsCenter both as a studio analyst and a sideline reporter covering for NFL games. He is an Orlando, Florida native who joined ESPN in 2014 after covering college football for CBSSports.com.Follow on XJan 10, 2026, 06:00 AM ET
Kornheiser: I’m stunned by Ravens firing John Harbaugh (2:57)Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser react to John Harbaugh being let go after 18 seasons in Baltimore. (2:57)
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — It seems no one inside the Baltimore Ravens’ training facility had conviction that Tuesday would become the most shocking day in franchise history.
Around 2:45 p.m., it was business as usual as some of the coaches left after filing their end-of-season player reports. John Harbaugh chatted up the members of his staff who hung around.
The belief inside the building — or at least the hope — was that the Ravens would undergo staff changes, perhaps at the coordinator positions, but that Harbaugh would remain the head coach in 2026.
One team source came away from that afternoon with the impression that Harbaugh and the Ravens were discussing a possible change at head coach but didn’t expect a quick decision, and that Harbaugh had 24 hours to decide what he wanted to do.
Just a few hours later, the coaches heard a knock on their door. A visibly distraught general manager Eric DeCosta, along with team president Sashi Brown, called a brief and hastily assembled meeting that began with DeCosta telling the group that he has “never had to do this before,” a team source recalled.
The news that was delivered ended the era of the winningest coach in Ravens history and jolted one of the most stable organizations in all of pro sports: John Harbaugh was fired by owner Steve Bisciotti.
Most Ravens players learned that Harbaugh was gone either from social media or text messages from friends before a 6 p.m. virtual meeting with DeCosta.
The most intriguing question — and one that might never be publicly answered — is what happened in those two hours Tuesday afternoon that led to the dismissal of a coach who won Super Bowl XLVII and earned 12 playoff berths in his 18 seasons in Baltimore.
Did Harbaugh ultimately take the blame for a team that failed to play its best in big games? Did he refuse to make certain changes to his coaching staff? Did the Ravens act to appease two-time NFL Most Valuable Player and quarterback Lamar Jackson? Or did the team’s owner look to reinvigorate a frustrated fan base?
“Only Steve and John can answer that,” another team source said of how the decision came to be. “But it was probably not one thing.”
Bisciotti and DeCosta are scheduled to talk to the media next Tuesday, the first time they will do so in the wake of firing Harbaugh. In a statement released almost an hour after the news was announced, Bisciotti said, “Following a comprehensive evaluation of the season and the overall direction of our organization, I decided to make a change at head coach. … This was an incredibly difficult decision.”
Harbaugh, who has three years left on his contract, summed up the jarring conclusion to such a promising season in his statement, which began: “Well, I was hoping for a different kind of message on my last day here, someday, but that day has come today.”
An ominous tone for the season was set in Week 1 with a historic fourth-quarter meltdown in Buffalo that sent the Ravens reeling.
In a 41-40 loss, the Ravens became the first NFL team to lose a season opener after holding a 15-point lead in the final four minutes. But this collapse continued a dreaded pattern for Harbaugh and Baltimore, which lost for the fifth time since 2019 after leading by double digits in the fourth quarter (tied for most in the NFL).
By the time the Ravens were 1-5, tying the worst start in franchise history, there were varying signs of internal tension playing out between the players. Jackson told the equipment staff to remove the toys in the locker room — a basketball hoop, pingpong table, cornhole boards and video game consoles — because they were distractions.
“I appreciate Mr. Steve [Bisciotti] for putting that in for us, but we had to focus,” Jackson later said.
The Baltimore Banner also cited anonymous sources who detailed players’ discontent with offensive coordinator Todd Monken’s playcalling.
Despite great success in together in 2023 and 2024, Jackson and Monken had chemistry issues this past season, according to team sources. Monken’s hard-driving coaching style didn’t mesh with Jackson, one source said.
“The communication with Lamar and Todd wasn’t as good as it was in that first year,” the same team source said. A separate source with knowledge of the situation countered that developing a relationship with Jackson isn’t always easy because he can internalize frustrations and keep receipts on perceived slights.
“I didn’t coach Lamar well enough,” Monken said Thursday on the “Ryan Ripken Show.” “I didn’t have as good of a relationship as I could have.”
Monken later added, “Lamar and I, to me, had a good relationship. Could it have been better? Of course. Lamar and I never had an issue.”
Though Baltimore seemingly revived its season by winning five straight games from late October through November, other streaks brought consternation.
Over the following five weeks, Jackson dealt with a growing number of injuries: knee, ankle and toe. During that time, he chose not to participate in the first practice of every week. He sometimes missed walk-throughs and meetings due to injury rehab, according to multiple team sources.
Toward the end of the season, The Baltimore Sun reported that Jackson had fallen asleep in team meetings and that the relationship between the quarterback and Harbaugh had become strained. Jackson disputed all of this, chalking it up to outside “noise.”
The distractions tested Baltimore’s mettle but didn’t break it. Multiple team sources noted how Harbaugh had the team ready to play in Week 17 in Green Bay, pouring 41 points on the Packers’ defense despite playoff chances dwindling at that point.
A team source said it’s no coincidence the Ravens decided to move on from Harbaugh and his staff at a time when they need to engage in contract talks with Jackson. Baltimore would like to reduce his $74.5 million salary cap hit by March 11, the start of the new league year. Jackson has two years left on the five-year, $260 million contract he signed in 2023, and he has full no-trade and no-tag clauses.
Baltimore blew its second double-digit lead of the season in the fourth quarter. Henry didn’t touch the ball for the final 12 minutes. Jackson got injured again, leaving late in the first half with a back contusion.
The final moments of the game delivered more embarrassment with the chants of “MVP” filling up M&T Bank Stadium. This time, it wasn’t for Jackson. It was Patriots fans screaming it for their quarterback, Drake Maye.
Fan outrage reached a fever pitch this season. Harbaugh was booed when coming off the field after a 44-10 loss to the Houston Texans on Oct. 5, and chants of “Fire Harbaugh” could be faintly heard the next week during a 17-3 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
“I try to do the job, not try to keep the job,” Harbaugh said. “We don’t have control over that except for the job we do today. And if we do a good enough job today, then the opportunity to do that job or a different job will be there tomorrow.”
Multiple team sources noted how Harbaugh had the team ready to play in Week 17 in Green Bay, pouring 41 points on the Packers. Baltimore was a made 44-yard field goal away from beating the Steelers and winning the AFC North in the final game of the regular season.
Multiple sources did not consider the Week 18 game in Pittsburgh a must-win for Harbaugh to keep his job, believing the down season as a whole was a bigger factor. But a source added that Bisciotti wasn’t as engaged with Harbaugh in the final two weeks of the season, which suggested to the coach that his job might not be on solid footing.
After the loss in Pittsburgh, the final question asked to Harbaugh was: Do you want another shot with these players?
A team source believed Harbaugh felt underappreciated at times in Baltimore. Harbaugh is a disciple of Andy Reid, who successfully went from coaching the Philadelphia Eagles for 14 seasons to leading the Kansas City Chiefs for the past 13 years. The notion of a second act for Harbaugh was not lost on multiple sources with knowledge of his thinking in the weeks before the season ended.
“There were moments late in the year when I wondered whether he still wants to do this anymore because the season was so crazy and relentless,” a team source said. “He still rallied us. That Green Bay game [Week 17] when we were almost eliminated, he had us ready to play despite the odds against us.”
Though Harbaugh has been labeled as the No. 1 head coaching candidate, the Ravens job is considered the best of the eight openings across the league.
No other team can offer a two-time NFL MVP at quarterback, a Pro Bowl-filled roster and a track record of stability. But it will also take a certain type of leader to follow in the footsteps of Harbaugh, who is one of eight in NFL history to coach over 300 games with one team.
When Bisciotti hired Harbaugh in 2008, he made it clear that he is willing to take risks if his instincts tell him that person is right for the job.