John Harbaugh spent 18 years as head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. Mike Tomlin spent 19 years as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pete Carroll spent 19 total years as an NFL head coach, including 14 with the Seattle Seahawks. All three delivered a Super Bowl to their teams and cities during their long-tenured runs. But time ran out for all three as 2026 kicked off.
Harbaugh, Tomlin and Carroll parted ways with their organizations within the first two weeks of the new year. Harbaugh and the Ravens “mutually parted ways,” Tomlin “stepped down” with the Steelers, while Carroll was outright fired by the Raiders. Carroll is likely headed to retirement, Tomlin is leaving football for at least a year, and while Harbaugh might get another job for next season, these three represent the old-style of football: culture over scheme, players over plays, and “Jimmy’s and Joe’s over X’s and O’s.”
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Harbaugh won his ring with the remnants of the early 2000 Ravens team, including Ray Lewis in his final year, with a big play-offense and an old-school defense. Carroll won the next year with an all-time great roster, but didn’t change the game with any innovative schemes. Five years earlier, it was Tomlin, winning with what was largely Bill Cowher’s early 2000’s Steelers team the distance with his own big-play offense and old-school defense. These coaches all stuck around for a decade or more after the fact. But perhaps that prevented their teams from evolving.
Once the Seahawks moved on from Carroll, they got to try a future with Mike Macdonald. Now they’re in as great shape as can be again. The Steelers and Ravens still have outdated strategies, and only keep competing for the playoffs because they’re in a division with the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals who struggle as much as anyone to get, let alone, keep their act together.
While the end of an era might hit hard for Ravens and Steelers fans who grew up with their identities of stability, they can look to the Seahawks as a beacon of hope. Seattle is showing them right now why moving into the next era of the NFL is better than staying in the past.
This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: NFL outgrew Seahawks’ Carroll, Steelers’ Tomlin, Ravens’ Harbaugh eras
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