After the Ravens took a commanding 24-13 lead to start the fourth quarter, following a Derrick Henry touchdown - we'll get to that situation in a moment - with 12:50 left to go, the Patriots scored two straight touchdowns on their next two drives to win 28-24.
No other coach in the past 34 years of the NFL has blown more double-digit second-half leads than Harbaugh. After the loss to the Patriots, Harbaugh now sits at a whopping 20 (regular season and playoffs).
Now, the Ravens hold the NFL record with the most losses (12) after leading by 7+ entering the fourth quarter - no other team has more than seven. So how can the Ravens look at these constant screw ups and keep Harbaugh in Baltimore?
Going back to Henry, after scoring the touchdown to put the Ravens up by two scores, not only did Henry not receive another carry the rest of the game - he didn't receive another snap.
At that point in the game, Henry had rushed for 128 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries, averaging almost a jaw-dropping eight yards per carry. The Patriots' defence had no answer for the Ravens' run game during a night in which their offensive line played rather stellar.
And what was Harbaugh's excuse after the game? Well...
What is Harbaugh thinking?
Reminder to every fan out there unfamiliar with the situation, the Ravens are currently in the midst of their season being completely over with and fighting for a playoff spot with their rivals in the Pittsburgh Steelers.
So during that entire fourth quarter, Harbaugh, the head coach, who is supposed to be the judge, jury, and executioner when it comes to game decisions, decided that keeping Henry on the bench was the smart move that could ensure them the win.
In a press conference after the game, Harbaugh even said, "I would have liked to have Henry in the game," as if he completely forgot that he could make that decision in the first place.
For those arguing that Henry fumbled earlier in the game, which led to a Patriots touchdown to make it 7-7 at the start of the second quarter, is the reason why Harbaugh and company didn't leave him in during crunch time - take a seat.
Pre-fumble, Henry put up 45 yards on 10 carries, including a 21-yard touchdown. After that fumble? Henry put up an insane 83 yards on eight carries - an unreal 10.3 yards per carry - with a touchdown that gave the Ravens a two-score lead.
To put that into perspective for those still new to the NFL, that means Henry averaged a first down every time he touched the ball, which is unheard of for running backs in the league.
It was as if Henry entered another stratosphere in running out of pure frustration to make up for his mistake. So not only did Harbaugh have the greatest threat between both teams on his side of the field, especially with quarterback Lamar Jackson out for the game with an injury, but he also decided to bench said greatest threat.
Now, you would think that with Jackson out of the game, leaving Henry in off the pure fact alone to help backup QB Tyler Huntley would be the smart decision? Well, Harbaugh didn't.
Head coaches who want to win don't do that. It's such a bizarre "what are you thinking, Harbaugh?" moment that it's almost as if someone, somewhere, was telling Harbaugh to sabotage the game and throw it so the Pats can keep their AFC East title hopes alive.
For a veteran head coach of his caliber to sit there and bench one of the game's all-time greatest running backs, and not sit there and say, "This was the dumbest thing I may have done in my entire career," but say, "I would've liked him out there," should be a fireable offense.
Place blame where it should be
Is Harbaugh to blame for Henry fumbling that led to a touchdown? Absolutely not, and Henry would tell all of us the same. It's been a shocking problem for him this season, and neither he nor the coaches seems to be able to fix it.
His three fumbles lost this season tie a career high that he set in 2019 with the Tennessee Titans. However, it was his first one since Week 3 in the team's loss to the Detroit Lions, also at home on primetime.
All three fumbles lost due to Henry this season have resulted in the other team scoring in crucial situations.
In Week 1 against the Bills, after Henry fumbled, they would go on to score a touchdown the following drive to cut the lead to 40-38 - eventually winning 41-40.
In Week 3 against the Lions, they would go on to score a field goal following Henry's fumble to put them up 31-24. Then, after Harbaugh and company refused to give him the ball the next drive, despite being down only one touchdown with 6:35 left to go, the Lions would score again to make it 38-24.
Now, in Week 16 against the Patriots, Henry fumbled and they eventually put up seven off the turnover because of it. There's no blaming Harbaugh for Henry's fumbles and the defence's ineptitude to stop a snail stuck in peanut butter.
But it's not just Henry's fumbles.
It's playing conservative zone defence, rushing only four guys despite having arguably the worst pass rush in all of football. It's about getting cold feet whenever an opponent has a close lead and they begin to panic with terrible pass plays, instead of running the ball when they're averaging a first down every one or two carries.
It's about consistently doing what works and avoiding what doesn't - and that is what ultimately falls on Harbaugh.
This song and dance with Zachary Orr (defensive coordinator) and Todd Monken (offensive coordinator) is the same as it was with others such as Dean Peas (DC), Greg Roman (OC), Marty Mornhinweg (OC), Marc Trestman (OC), Jim Caldwell (OC), and Cam Cameron (OC) - all under Harbaugh.
The only three who it wasn't a problem with were: Mike MacDonald (DC), who is now the head coach of the No. 1 team in the NFL in the Seattle Seahawks, Gary Kubiak (OC), a veteran NFL head coach who Joe Flacco had a career-year under in his one year with the team, and Don 'Wink' Martindale (DC), who the Ravens had a top-seven defence in four of his five seasons (2018-2021) with, the final season being ranked No. 25 due to a mess of injuries.
Even with Martindale, his split from the Ravens came from "coaching differences" with Harbaugh, despite both having respect and admiration for one another.
There's no identity anymore other than the team that has become notorious for blowing late leads.
MacDonald & Leadership
Baltimore had a head coaching prodigy in Macdonald that would've been the perfect candidate to replace Harbaugh and carry on the torch after they lost in the AFC Championship 17-10 to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Harbaugh would've ended his decorated coaching career as one of the best and he would've received a grateful thank you from the fans as he left the building.
Of course, most would look at that, just like the Ravens front office, and go, "We're not firing a head coach that just led us to the conference championship." And that's the problem - they're loyal to a fault and stubborn beyond belief.
For an organization that prides itself on being one of the best in the NFL all season, every season, it gets to a point where losing the games that count the most have to be taken into serious consideration when it comes down to leadership.
Harbaugh doesn't have Ray Lewis or Ed Reed to depend on for leadership on the field anymore. And while some could say that role has fallen on guys like Roquan Smith and Kyle Hamilton on the defence, when fans watch the games, nobody is rallying around anyone.
And when there's no player for other guys to rally around, it's on the head coach to be that guy. For whom many players throughout the years have considered the player-coach, Harbaugh in these past two years, especially, has seemed to fail at being that guy to get his guys going and motivated in the games' biggest moments.
But they do have fan-favourite players like Isaiah Likely crashing out after the game and Marlon Humphrey hopping on his podcast like everything is hunkey-dory after having the worst game of his career - a primary reason the Ravens lost on Sunday.
There's zero trace of "Let's keep pouring it on, run this score up, and shove the ball down the other team's throat" mentality under Harbaugh anymore. It's completely gone. And for one of the most winningest head coaches in NFL history, to go out on a note like this as if he's never coached before in his life, is almost disheartening.
Even Jackson has voiced his complaints in the past about the team getting soft when they have a "comfortable lead." It sparked something in Harbaugh for a little bit, then that flame died out as soon as it ignited.
Other coaching blunders in 2025
When Orr starts playing conservative zone defence on Sunday against the Pats, despite the blitz working, and he goes away from it, it's Harbs' call to say "No! Keep blitzing! We need to keep putting pressure on Draker Maye!"
Maye finished the game 22-of-31 passing with 305 yds, one touchdown, and one interception when there was no blitz - it was the first 300-yard game of Maye's entire career. And that one interception came against one of the 18 moments the Ravens created pressure.
When he didn't face any pressure, let alone blitzes, Maye went 19- of-26 passing for 239 yds and two touchdowns - that's almost half of his throws (44) from the night.
Now, Ravens fans are just constantly reminded of the iconic Harbaugh "face" when things start going wrong. And when that happens, we know the game is either over or it's about to be.
Offensive coordinator Todd Monken is in no way going to duck and cover from the criticism just because he has Jackson and Henry to fall behind when things look ugly.
He has a lack of self-awareness within his own offensive system for wanting to throw the ball when running it is working, or vice versa. Not to mention this year, Monken has this all-of-a-sudden infatuation with screen plays and completely isolating both DeAndre Hopkins and Rashod Bateman from the offence almost completely.
Both Harbaugh and Jackson said Hopkins should have been getting the ball more a couple of weeks ago. Well, that's hard, even for Harbaugh, when the offensive coordinator doesn't draw up plays meant to get him the ball as he does for Zay Flowers or Mark Andrews.
Hopkins never had more than two receptions in a game this season until Sunday, when he had four.
Harbaugh and organisational issues
The problem now lies in the contract, but that's a front office problem. They will need to deal with the dilemma of giving Harbaugh an extension before the 2025 season and having to pay him and a new head coach, should they fire Harbaugh.
And, as always, through his entire tenure, the coordinators will more than likely take the fallout for this year's blunders and we'll see another pair under Harbaugh's wings.
If they somehow manage to make the playoffs, the front office will sing his praises. If not, he'll more than likely remain in Baltimore for the foreseeable future anyway, but with even newer coaches, putting Jackson in the same exact situation as they did with Flacco when he was there.
During Flacco's time with the Ravens (11 years), Baltimore went through five offensive coordinators and five defensive coordinators. Now with Jackson (seven years), should they fire Monken and Orr, the Ravens will have gone through three offensive coordinators and four defensive coordinators - Harbs remaining the common denominator.
In five of Jackson's first six years, the Ravens made the playoffs - exactly the same as Flacco, with the only dfference being Flacco was 28 at that time, Jackson was 27.
And what happened after Flacco won the Super Bowl? The Ravens only saw the playoffs twice in his remaining five years with the team.
Is this what's going to happen to Jackson and his career? A god-given talent who was born to play the game of football. One of the most electrifying players to ever grace a football field, who is coming off one of the greatest seasons by a QB in NFL history? And it's all because Harbaugh and company constantly decided to do the dumbest things imaginable to destroy that?
Even on the miracle that the Ravens make the playoffs this season, Harbaugh's time in Baltimore needs to come to an end. Point. Blank. Period.
No, he doesn't block. No, he doesn't throw or run the ball. No, it's not his fault that Humphrey can't cover a bed with a blanket or that Daniel Faalele is constantly blocking ghosts. But it's his job to prepare the team for each and every game. A head coach is a director. And when things aren't working in his team's favour, he needs to say cut and re-shoot. When things are working in his favour, he should keep the film rolling while sitting in his chair and letting the actors, camera crew, etc. (players) do their jobs.
Conclusion
Football is not a complicated sport. It's as easy as 2+2 when we discuss the common sense principles of the game - games are won within the trenches, keep doing what works, stop doing what doesn't work, etc. Yet, for some other worldly reason, Harbaugh has lost that completely with this team.
Should he be the head coach next season, the front office is just as responsible for the franchise's unbelievable talent of building up excitement around their team just for them to be disappointing again and again.
Harbaugh is undoubtedly one of the nicest guys every year across the league. He's a great person who cares about the well-being of the players. He's one of the most winningest coaches ever. He will go down as one of the greats when all is said and done. And Ravens fans should treat his career as such when the time comes.
Despite recent criticism, he's earned the praise for past success. He's brought more to the Ravens franchise than most organisations have ever seen over the course of their entire history.
That being said, if the Ravens had learned their lesson with Harbaugh by now, he wouldn't still be the head coach. Maybe the offseason will be the time they finally decide to do what's right.
It's time to say goodbye and begin anew for the franchise. Jackson and Henry aren't getting any younger.