{"id":413254,"date":"2026-01-14T22:31:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T22:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/413254\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T22:31:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T22:31:12","slug":"mike-tomlin-john-harbaugh-finish-storied-coaching-rivalry-with-pittsburgh-steelers-baltimore-ravens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/413254\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Tomlin, John Harbaugh finish storied coaching rivalry with Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eighteen seasons, 40 meetings, two Super Bowl<\/a> wins and the greatest NFL<\/a> rivalry this century.<\/p>\n

That’s what Mike Tomlin<\/a> and John Harbaugh<\/a> shared together for the better part of two decades as head coaches of the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> and Baltimore Ravens<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But in the space of just over a week, that iconic rivalry was slammed shut in the latest proof of how cut-throat being a professional sports coach can be.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

John Harbaugh and Mike Tomlin shake hands before their final meeting.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

And just as their careers were intertwined under the bright lights all those years, their respective exits will be forever linked together as well.<\/p>\n

In the week 18 match on December 5 (AEDT), which acted as the regular season finale, Baltimore and Pittsburgh were playing each other for the last spot in the NFL playoffs.<\/p>\n

A win for either side would send them into the post-season, while a loss would send them on an end-of-year holiday and months of question marks for the future.<\/p>\n

As has been the case on so many occasions, the latest battle between the Steelers and Ravens went down to the wire and literally the last play of the season<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ravens kicker Tyler Loop had a shot to ice a regulation field-goal to make it 27-26, but the rookie sprayed it wide and the Steelers held on for the 26-24 victory.<\/p>\n

It was, without question, one of the wildest ends to an NFL season in recent memory.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Aaron Rodgers celebrates after Pittsburgh’s narrow win over Baltimore.\u00a0Twitter\/Getty<\/p>\n

Just one day later, Harbaugh was fired by the Ravens after finishing 8-9 and missing the playoffs for just the sixth time in his 18 seasons in charge.<\/p>\n

The jubilation from the Steelers’ side of things was evident and there was belief building that Aaron Rodgers was about to lead them towards a Super Bowl run.<\/p>\n

That was until they met a rampaging Houston Texans outfit<\/a> on Tuesday, whose defence mauled the Steelers on their home turf in a demoralising 30-6 loss.<\/p>\n

It marked a seventh-straight loss for Tomlin in the playoffs – equal with the unwanted NFL record – with pressure mounting on him to remain as coach.<\/p>\n

Less than 24 hours after the loss, Tomlin stepped down from his position, truly signalling the end of an era for the Steelers, Ravens and AFC North division.<\/p>\n

His departure will see Pittsburgh go into the 2026 campaign with just their fourth coach in 55 years after Tomlin, Bill Cowher and Chuck Noll all enjoyed extended stays.<\/p>\n

For two coaches to hold head coaching jobs in the modern era for 18 and 19 seasons respectively is no mean feat – but to do it against each other, playing twice a year in one of the league’s fiercest divisions, is perhaps even more impressive.<\/p>\n

Despite the intense rivalry between the two teams and fanbases, which has been built on physicality, ruthlessness and at times genuine hatred, Tomlin and Harbaugh built up a genuine level of respect for each other – the type only forged through battle.<\/p>\n

A wholesome moment between the pair late in their careers with the Steelers and Ravens truly summed up how long they had been going head-to-head.<\/p>\n

“We’ve been in a bunch of these you and I, haven’t we? I remember one time sitting and talking about what our kids were for Halloween and them damn kids grown (now),” Tomlin said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh in 2009.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

The two men are worlds apart when it comes to their personalities.<\/p>\n

Harbaugh is a rather mildly-spoken, devout Christian who often used his faith to inspire players, as well as being a great strategical football mind with deep roots and family connection to the sport, with his brother Jim also a tremendous coach.<\/p>\n

Tomlin on the other hand is a wildly charismatic and extremely blunt man-manager who is never afraid to mince his words – whether it be to his players or the media.<\/p>\n

His iconic one-liners or Tomlinisms have gone viral on a regular basis over the years, from the hilarious “don’t blink or I’ll cut your eyelids off” and “there’s a fine line between drinking wine and stomping grapes” to his ultra-emphatic “the standard is the standard” quote that became synonymous with his latter years at the helm in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

Even after the dramatic week 18 win regarding Baltimore’s missed field goal that saved the Steelers’ season, Tomlin managed to deliver one final classic.<\/p>\n

“You know how it is – if my aunt had male parts, she’d be my uncle,” he said.<\/p>\n

But for all their evident differences, what both Tomlin and Harbaugh did share on the NFL stage was unbridled passion for the game that few could dream of matching.<\/p>\n

The pair bow out with tremendous individual records that stack up against the greats.<\/p>\n

Tomlin completed his 19 seasons with Pittsburgh having never finished with a losing record – an absolutely ridiculous statistic that will be hard to ever replicate – while also tasting Super Bowl glory in 2009 and winning eight AFC North titles.<\/p>\n

Harbaugh won a Super Bowl in 2013 and won six AFC North titles in a fantastic period for the franchise.<\/p>\n

In the head-to-head rivalry, Tomlin finished with the edge over Harbaugh, having won 23 matches with the Steelers compared to the Ravens with 17 in that period.<\/p>\n

In the playoffs, Tomlin and Harbaugh split the chocolates with two wins apiece.<\/p>\n

Of the 40 games between the two teams during that time frame, 30 were decided by one score (eight points) and 20 were decided by a field goal (three points) or less.<\/p>\n

While there are plenty of coaches who have built incredible resumes and have been at their current teams for a while – Andy Reid (12 seasons with the Chiefs), Sean McVay (eight seasons with the Rams) and Kyle Shanahan (eight seasons with the 49ers) among them – the Tomlin and Harbaugh tenures and rivalry is unlikely to ever be replicated.<\/p>\n

The fact there have been seven head coaches either fired or quit since the regular season finished less than a fortnight ago – plus another seven teams who welcomed rookie head coaches in 2025 – proves the anomalies that were Tomlin and Harbaugh.<\/p>\n

There are Steelers and Ravens fans across the world who have grown up not knowing a world without Tomlin and Harbaugh coaching their teams.<\/p>\n

It brought a sense of comfort, that no matter what else was happening in the NFL or in the world at any given time, those two beloved coaches would be face-to-face.<\/p>\n

While many watching on will be happy to see a new era ushered in for their teams, the likelihood is the NFL will never witness something like it again.<\/p>\n

Tomlin and Harbaugh. Pittsburgh and Baltimore. A rivalry for the ages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eighteen seasons, 40 meetings, two Super Bowl wins and the greatest NFL rivalry this century. That’s what Mike…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413255,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-413254","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}