PALM BEACH, Fla. -- At the annual league meeting last week, Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh sat down with reporters and immediately expressed gratitude over his new three-year deal, which extends one of the most successful runs in NFL history.
Entering their 18th season under Harbaugh, the Ravens have totaled six AFC North titles, two No. 1 seeds and 12 playoff berths. The stumbling block has been in the postseason, where Harbaugh hasn't led Baltimore to a Super Bowl since winning it in the 2012 season.
Harbaugh is proud of what the Ravens have been able to accomplish, but he has been left unfulfilled lately.
"I feel like I have a lot more to prove," Harbaugh said. "Our team has a lot more to prove, and I feel like I have a lot of good ideas, and our group has a lot of good ideas. We're still growing, big time. I just feel like there's no stopping us, and I can't wait to try this stuff out next year. As long as I feel that way, I think I'm going to keep coaching."
Harbaugh has come a long way since 2008, when the Ravens hired him despite no previous head coaching experience. At the time, he was the ninth-youngest coach in the NFL.
Now at 62, he is currently the third-oldest. The only coaches who are older are the Las Vegas Raiders' Pete Carroll (73) and the Kansas City Chiefs' Andy Reid (67).
Excited about what the Ravens can achieve with a talent-filled roster, Harbaugh indicated thoughts of retirement is not front of mind. He then shared the best advice about calling it quits.
"Hey, you coach, until you just can't take it anymore." Harbaugh recalled the words of his father, Jack, who coached over a span of five decades. "When you get to that point, you coach for two more years and then you move on."
Harbaugh's extension puts him in a position to be among the all-time greats in terms of longevity. He is under contract through the 2028 season, which would mark his 21st in the league. According to ESPN Research, only six coaches in NFL history have spent 20 or more seasons with one team: Curly Lambeau (29 years with the Green Bay Packers), Tom Landry (29 with the Dallas Cowboys), Don Shula (26 with the Miami Dolphins), Bill Belichick (24 with the New England Patriots), Chuck Noll (23 with the Pittsburgh Steelers) and Steve Owen (23 with the New York Giants).
Harbaugh is also establishing a new Baltimore sports mark this year. He will surpass Earl Weaver, who managed the Orioles for 17 seasons (1968-82 and 1985-86), for the city's longest run by a pro coach or manager.
"He's been so steady," Ravens president Sashi Brown said. "He's helped us really establish 'the Ravens' way.'"
Harbaugh turned the Ravens into a perennial Super Bowl contender. He became the first coach in NFL history to advance to three conference championship games in his first five seasons.
But, in 12 years since hoisting up the Vince Lombardi Trophy, Harbaugh is 4-7 in the playoffs and has reached the conference title game once.
When asked by the team's website on what he envisions for the Ravens franchise 30 years from now, owner Steve Bisciotti stressed the urgency to capture a championship with two-time NFL Most Valuable Player Lamar Jackson and this current group of players.
"I want to win now," Bisciotti told the team's website. "I want to win with these guys."
The lingering problem with the Ravens' postseason failures has been critical mistakes at the biggest moments.
In a 17-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2023 AFC Championship Game, wide receiver Zay Flowers lost the ball near the goal line in the fourth quarter. It was the first fumble of Flowers' career.
In a 27-25 loss at the Buffalo Bills in a 2024 AFC Divisional playoff game, tight end Mark Andrews dropped a 2-point conversion with 1:33 left in the game. He hadn't had a drop in his previous 12 games.
Harbaugh said the theme is "to get of our own way and be on the same page."
"In the playoffs, we haven't been able to put it together for three or four games to win the Super Bowl championship, and that's the hard thing," Harbaugh said. "That's why only one team does it, so we understand that. That's the way it's set up, but we want to be that team, and we're good enough to do it, so we want to find a way to do it."
If Harbaugh wins another Super Bowl, it would represent the longest gap between titles. Belichick currently holds that distinction after going nine seasons between Super Bowl championships (2005 and 2013).
"The challenge there -- the not simple part of it -- is setting everything up in a way that makes those things intent, so that we're intentional about those things every single day," Harbaugh said. "So, when those moments happen in the biggest moments, it's something that we've been doing all along, and it's normal for us. Then, we have the best chance to have it go our way in those games, and that's what we're really talking about right now as a coaching staff, is the best way to intentionalize all those things so that in those big moments, we can follow through and get to the end."