BALTIMORE _ Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti acknowledged that he considered replacing 10-year head coach John Harbaugh after the team missed the playoffs for the third consecutive year.
"Certainly, it was a thought," Bisciotti said in his State of the Ravens address Friday. "I was very proud of the way John kept fighting, held the team together when we were losing in the middle of the year. Joe (Flacco) was obviously producing at substandard (level) with his back injury and after the first couple of weeks obviously, we were very encouraged by our defense and thought that could hold us together.
"We didn't perform very well in the middle of the year. I was proud of the way we fought back as a team. It was certainly a consideration, but not one that I was inclined to make this year."
Harbaugh is 94-66 in the regular season with seven winning records and just one losing one. The 55-year-old led the Ravens to the postseason in his first five seasons and won a Super Bowl following the 2012 campaign. However, the team has missed the playoffs in three straight years and in four of the past five.
Harbaugh, who got one year added onto his contract this past summer, is under contract through 2019.
Bisciotti wouldn't say that the longtime head coach needs to take the Ravens to the playoffs in 2018 to save his job.
"I'm not going to give a playoff-or-bust edict to you all or to my coach," Bisciotti said. "He's under as much pressure than probably he's ever been in his life, and I expect him to keep his chin up and take his positivity and his talents and make the most of the season. I may as well replace him now if I tell him to make the playoffs or you're out of town next year. That's not the way we run business here."
