In the 2019 iteration of his head coach power rankings, Elliot Harrison of NFL.com ranked Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh as the seventh-best head coach in football.
“The pundits have been keeping a steady pour of haterade on John Harbaugh over the last couple of seasons,” wrote Harrison. “Never mind that Harbaugh, like Andy Reid, made an extremely difficult decision at quarterback last year, switching from Joe Flacco to Lamar Jackson in a move that pushed the Ravens to the postseason for the seventh time in his 11 seasons in Baltimore.”
Though the 2018 campaign was a successful, albeit challenging, one for Harbaugh and the Ravens, the coach nonetheless fell two spots this year after being ranked at No. 5 on the 2018 version of Harrison’s list.
In this year’s list, Harbaugh is sandwiched between Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams (No. 6) and Anthony Lynn of the Los Angeles Chargers (No. 8).
In 11 seasons with Baltimore, Harbaugh has a 104-72 all-time regular-season record. Harbaugh has led Baltimore to a playoff berth in seven seasons (2008-2012, 2014 and 2018) to the tune of a 10-6 postseason record. Since 2008, only Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots has more postseason wins.
While the recent years have been relatively tumultuous ones for Harbaugh and company — Harbaugh was occupying the hot seat as recently as last November, with team owner Steve Bisciotti publicly remarking that he considered ousting the longtime coach — the numbers speak for themselves and legitimize Harbaugh as one of the decade’s best coaches.
