John Harbaugh has spent nearly two decades leading Baltimore. But his failure to get the most out of his quarterback is a fireable failing
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here are losses, and then there are those defeats that show us exactly who a team are. The Steelers’ 26-24 win over the Ravens on Sunday night was the latter. It wasn’t just a loss; it was a referendum. The game was vintage, grubby, beautiful AFC North football. A rivalry game with a playoff place on the line. Big plays. Dumb decisions. Cris Collinsworth making unintelligible noises on commentary. In the final three minutes, four plays swung the win probability by more than 40 percentage points.
The Steelers, missing DK Metcalf and Darnell Washington, scored on four of their five second-half drives, three of them touchdowns, with Aaron Rodgers finding Calvin Austin for a 26-yard score with 55 seconds left. Baltimore, by contrast, couldn’t get out of their own way until Lamar Jackson strapped on his cape, completing seven of his final nine passes, throwing two touchdowns and converting a ridiculously clutch fourth-down strike to Isaiah Likely with 21 seconds left and the season on the line.
It should have been the defining moment of Baltimore’s year. Instead, they botched it. With 12 seconds remaining and a timeout in hand, the Ravens took a knee. They had plenty of time to churn out an extra five or 10 yards, to turn the 44-yard field goal attempt into a chip shot and kill the clock. But John Harbaugh chose safety. Rookie kicker Tyler Loop missed the kick wide right. The Steelers celebrated a division title and the AFC’s No 4 seed. Baltimore went home.
