I'm setting this column up by saying I would be absolutely stunned if Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh were to be fired during the team's bye week. I don't mean I'd be "mildly surprised" or "caught off guard." I'd be absolutely stunned.
I'm aware that NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported Harbaugh was on the hot seat. Rapaport wrote that "while a midseason coaching change isn't expected, it hasn't been ruled out, either. A particularly disastrous defeat would send the higher-ups into the bye week with some very real questions and time to ponder their future."
Taken at face value, the report could be dismissed because it would be hard to describe a one-score loss as "a particularly disastrous defeat." If the Ravens had been thrashed by four touchdowns, it would be easier to imagine the possibility of something as dramatic as a midseason firing of a Super Bowl winner who is also the sixth longest-tenured coach in the NFL.
