Giants' John Harbaugh makes odd claim about final season with Ravens

One of the more surprising NFL-related developments of this past winter involved Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti relieving head coach John Harbaugh of his duties following Baltimore's brutal Week 18 loss at the rival Pittsburgh Steelers that ended the Ravens' 2025 season. 

Harbaugh is now basically running the New York Giants' football operations as their head coach. During a recent appearance on the "Pardon My Take" program, Harbaugh spoke about what became his final season with Baltimore. 

Why John Harbaugh is proud of his final season with the Ravens

"I took a lot of pride in what we did," Harbaugh explained, per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. "I took a lot of pride in this season. I thought, honestly, as a coaching staff, it might have been our best job this year coaching this team. I thought we did a great job. But it wasn’t good enough in terms of getting us where we needed to get for whatever reason."

Shortly after Bisciotti confirmed that he had shown Harbaugh the door, reports suggested that Harbaugh had "lost" the Baltimore locker room. Harbaugh had served as the Ravens' head coach from 2008 through this past season, and he led the team to a single Super Bowl title in February 2013. 

However, two-time MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson accumulated a postseason record as a starter of 3-5 under Harbaugh. Together, they tallied one AFC Championship Game appearance and zero Super Bowl trips. 

John Harbaugh understands why Ravens made a change

"If the job’s not getting done, it’s not good enough, they’ll make a change," Harbaugh said about being fired following Week 18 of the 2025 season. "I really wasn’t worried about it ever, keeping the job. I felt like at some point in time, if they felt like I wasn’t the best guy for the job to do the job, then they’re going to put me out of a job, and that’s what they should do if they feel that way."

Giants fans are now hoping that the hiring of Harbaugh will prove to be the franchise's best offseason acquisition since it landed young quarterback Jaxson Dart during the 2025 draft. If Harbaugh helps Dart become an MVP-caliber player, Ravens fans may find themselves wondering what could have been had Bisciotti run it back with the coach for at least one more season.