Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti began considering a coaching change late in the season and broached the possibility to General Manager Eric DeCosta. The day after the season-opening loss to the Steelers, Bisciotti was “pretty sure” he was going to fire John Harbaugh.
So, Tyler Loop’s missed 44-yard field goal that would have clinched the AFC North for the Ravens had nothing to do with the move.
Bisciotti said Harbaugh would have kept his job “for one more week” had Loop made the field goal.
The owner talked to the team’s star players, including quarterback Lamar Jackson, who told Bisciotti that he didn’t have issues with Harbaugh or offensive coordinator Todd Monken but thought “we have to make changes, probably.”
Bisciotti decided for certain last Tuesday afternoon.
“I fell on my instincts, and whatever I was feeling was right,” Bisciotti said Tuesday, via Ryan Mink of the team website. “I got to the point that I didn’t believe that I would feel regret after I made that decision, and that’s what instinct is.”
Bisciotti cited blown fourth-quarter leads and underperforming in the playoffs in recent years. The Ravens lost a 15-point fourth-quarter lead against the Bills, an 11-point lead to the Patriots and two fourth-quarter leads in Pittsburgh.
Jackson has won 86 regular-season games and two league MVP awards since joining the team in 2018, but the Ravens haven’t reached the Super Bowl with him as their quarterback.
“I just hope you respect me enough to know that 100 percent my instincts told me this was the time,” Bisciotti said. “And I may be right; I may be wrong; but I did it because I’m in charge of doing it.”