The Ravens’ John Harbaugh era is officially over and there are reportedly several issues that helped make it happen

What caused this split to really happen?

Kyle Crabbs — NFL National Writer

Jan 6, 2026 6:14 PM EST

Plenty of Baltimore Ravens fans had their night made on Tuesday evening, as they’ve got their wish. Baltimore has split with their long-time head coach, John Harbaugh. Harbaugh has been with the Ravens program for 18 seasons, has allocated 180 career wins and an additional 13 wins in the playoffs. Those 13 postseason wins rank seventh all-time among NFL head coaches.

But things were obviously all good in Baltimore, given a disappointing 8-9 season in 2025. This year’s campaign was as big of a disappointment as we’ve seen in a long time out of Baltimore; the Ravens were expected to be the favorites in the AFC this season. Instead they’re packing up shop with 17 other non-playoff teams.

What ultimately led to this decision? There have been some rumblings already.

Desired staff changes, ownership frustration reportedly fueled Harbaugh split in Baltimore

According to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, a key point in the divide between Harbaugh and team owner Steve Bisciotti was the desire to pivot off of offensive coordinator Todd Monken. Monken was credited with the leap of play we saw from QB Lamar Jackson upon his arrival on staff but the performance of Baltimore’s offensive unit was erratic and personnel issues arose throughout the year — such as RB Derrick Henry‘s disappearing act late in some games.

NFL insider Jordan Schultz described Tuesday as a meeting day between Harbaugh and Bisciotti that included some “very honest, very open” conversations. He also disclosed that Bisciotti “had grown frustrated with John Harbaugh’s lack of playoff success in recent years.”

The other backdrop of this conversation is the upcoming negotiation with quarterback Lamar Jackson. As the team looks to address Jackson’s contract, the team understandably knows they must get the most out of this next window of the quarterback’s career. Jackson is just 3-5 in the postseason in his career despite collecting multiple MVP awards and multiple No. 1 seeds in the AFC.

If these two parties couldn’t align on what that formula to maximize the future with Jackson looks like, then there really wasn’t much to talk about.

Baltimore will embark on their first head coaching search in nearly 20 years, while Harbaugh will become one of the hottest head coaching names on the market. Perhaps both sides will be better off in the future. It shouldn’t take long for us to find out the new path for both sides.