A Portrait: Harbaugh's downward spiral in Baltimore

The Ravens finished the 2016 season with an 8-8 record and missing the playoffs for a third time in the last four years. Many fans in Baltimore were calling for heads to roll after a devastating last second loss to Pittsburgh that eliminated the Ravens from post season contention and a horrendous showing the following week in Cincinatti. By now Raven nation knows that not only will Harbaugh be returning for his 10 season as head coach but  the offensive, Defensive and Special Team coordinators will be returning as well. This begs the question of whether or not the Harbaugh train has run its course in Baltimore.

As we all know the NFL is a what have you done for me lately league more so than any other sport. With fans and media alike following this mindset coach Harbaugh should consider his seat in Baltimore to be scorching. When we take a look at the stats they once again paint a clear picture that Harbaugh fans might not want to see. Going into the 2016 season there were 13 coaches who had been at the helm of their teams since 2013. San Diego head coach Mike McCoy was fired by the team after going 27-37 over his four year tenure with the team. Why is that important? This now leaves John Harbaugh as the coach with the worst record of all coaches who have been at their helm since 2013. He is also the only coach to have an overall losing record over that time span at 31-33. This may be a bit surprising for some but the real surprise occurs when you dig a little deeper into the record itself. Of the 31 regular season wins under Harbaugh over the past 4 years only 6 of those wins came against teams that finished the year with a winning record. That's a shade over 19% of the wins that the Ravens have had since 2013 have come against winning football teams. In 2016 the combined records of teams that the Ravens defeated was an underwhelming 46-81. Simply put the Ravens do not beat good football teams very often. The Ravens are also 3-5 in weeks 16 and 17 over the past 4 years.  Three of those loses have come against the Bengals in week 17 3 of the past 4 years. The Ravens have also been one of the most undisciplined teams since 2013. They have been one of the top 6 most penalized teams in the NFL in 3 of the last 4 years. The Ravens have also been in the bottom 10 in points scored per game in the league in 3 out of the past 4 years.

Lastly, fans will point fingers to the overall body of work and argue that we cannot dismiss his tenure from 2008-2012. True, Harbaugh has a lifetime .590 winning percentage and a Super Bowl on his resume but Harbaugh also had Ray Lewis and Ed Reed during that time as well. Harbaugh had leaders during his first 5 seasons that not only produced but were able to cover up his inexperience leading a team on and off of the field. Since that magical season in 2012 Ravens fans have been looking for someone to lead this football team. Unfortunately the first 5 seasons under Harbaugh may turn out to have been smoke in mirrors as it relates to his ability to actually lead a team both on and off the football field. Could Harb's had simply benefitted from having 2 HOF defensive voices in the locker room from 08-12? Could dominating defenses have covered up his lack of head coaching experience and clock management abilities? I guess only time will tell. One thing is for sure and that is the stats are beginning to paint a clear picture of what is going wrong in Baltimore and that picture may very well just be a Harbaugh self portrait.