Ravens Owner Steve Bisciotti and General Manager Eric DeCosta held an hour-long press conference Tuesday, a week after parting ways with John Harbaugh.

Here's what we learned from their answers:

Bisciotti trusted his instincts.

Bisciotti's decision to fire Harbaugh was tough but not sudden. And it was made with conviction.

Bisciotti said he spoke with DeCosta about it three or four weeks ago about the possibility. The Ravens lost back-to-back home games to the Bengals and Steelers in early December, then had a fourth-quarter meltdown in another home loss to the Patriots days before Christmas.

Bisciotti said he wasn't 100% sure he would move on from Harbaugh until after the loss in Pittsburgh. But asked if Harbaugh would have kept his job had Tyler Loop made his 44-yard field goal attempt, Bisciotti replied, "For one more week."

Bisciotti solicited the opinions of some of the Ravens' star players, including quarterback Lamar Jackson. Jackson, who Bisciotti described as "really a non-confrontational person," told the Ravens owner that he didn't have issues with Harbaugh or Offensive Coordinator Todd Monken, but thought, "we have to make changes, probably."

Bisciotti woke up on Monday after the Ravens' loss feeling like he was "pretty sure" he was going to fire Harbaugh.

"I fell on my instincts, and whatever I was feeling was right," Bisciotti said. "I got to the point that I didn't believe that I would feel regret after I made that decision. And that's what instinct is."

Two reasons rose to the top for the Harbaugh decision.

The question of the press conference was "why."

Why did Bisciotti ultimately make the call to end an 18-year marriage with his Super Bowl-winning head coach?

When asked for the top reasons, two came to Bisciotti's mind first: blown fourth-quarter leads and underperforming in the playoffs in recent years.

The Ravens lost a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter in the season-opener in Buffalo. They lost an 11-point lead to the Patriots, and fell after taking two fourth-quarter leads in Pittsburgh.

The Ravens were the AFC's top seed in 2019 and 2023. They lost in the divisional round and conference championship at M&T Bank Stadium in those respective years. Last year, they fell in the divisional playoffs in Buffalo. This season, they lost to the Steelers in an AFC North play-in game.

The Ravens had a 3-6 playoff record during the Harbaugh-Jackson era despite having one of the best teams in the league for multiple years in that window.

"Most of these can't get traced back to John, necessarily, but factually, we led the league in giving up big leads in the fourth quarter. It's not something that winning organizations do," Bisciotti said. "We have underperformed based on our seeding in the playoffs, [which is] very disappointing."

This was an amicable parting.

Bisciotti said he was the more emotional one on the phone call when he called Harbaugh to tell him he was being fired.

Harbaugh told Bisciotti he "owed [him] nothing" after hiring a special teams coordinator 18 years ago. The two even had a longer follow-up conversation a couple of days later, in which Harbaugh expressed how he thought the Ravens could improve moving forward and Bisciotti talked to Harbaugh about where he thought he should coach next.

As much as the decision hurt, the Ravens owner took peace in knowing that Harbaugh would be highly sought after as a free agent coach and would get a free start with a team, fanbase, and media corps that would all be eager to have him.

"I couldn't stand people attacking my friend. So, some of the stuff that they talked about with John ate me alive," Bisciotti said. "And so, like I said, part of my feeling, like when my instinct says 'Now's the time,' it was, 'I get to relieve John of all that crap,' too, and John gets to start anew, and John gets to be everybody's No. 1 choice."

Bisciotti called it the "hardest thing that we've ever had to do," but Harbaugh ultimately took the fall for the team's decline over the past couple of seasons.

"We're going to be friends forever," Bisciotti said. "An AFC Championship to Division Round to not making the playoffs; we own that. That's us. And so, unfortunately, John was the one to take it."

Bisciotti is intrigued by second-chance coaches, but he won't lead the process.

The Ravens are in the midst of an exhaustive search to find their next head coach and Bisciotti has tasked that job to DeCosta, President Sashi Brown, and Executive Vice President Ozzie Newsome.

Bisciotti made it clear, however, that he is not opposed to hiring somebody for their second head coaching gig instead of going with a top coordinator.

"Unlike 18 years ago, I am very intrigued by coaches that were the hottest offensive and defensive coordinators from five, six or seven years ago in their cycles and got jobs and went to teams that were non-competitive and didn't have a quarterback, and they grind for three or four years, and they're caught up in the cycle of many of my partners," Bisciotti said.

Some of the Ravens' confirmed and reported interviews are with coaches who didn't have long tenures in their first chance as a head coach – Brian Flores, Kliff Kingsbury, Matt Nagy, Kevin Stevanski, Vance Joseph, Jim Schwartz, Mike McDaniel, and Robert Saleh.

"I could say I'm disqualifying coaches with losing records, but I think you have to remember that they were the hottest coaches in their cycle, and they got tough jobs, and I don't think we have a tough job," Bisciotti said. "I think that we created the best opening in this cycle."

Bisciotti said he has no preference on whether the new head coach is offensive- or defensive-minded

Bisciotti expects Jackson to also be included in the final stages of the hiring process and offered his jet up to the quarterback to pick him up from Florida to come to Baltimore.

Bisciotti wants the top figures of his organization, including his franchise quarterback, to be on board, but it's his decision.

"[He will have] a lot of say, but no power," Bisciotti said. "I have the power."

Bisciotti wants Jackson to be his long-term partner.

There's been media speculation that the Ravens could consider trading Jackson this offseason, as his salary-cap hit jumps from $43.5 million to $74.5 million.

Bisciotti made it clear where he stands.

"I want him to be my quarterback," Bisciotti said.

In addition to soliciting Jackson's opinion on whether to move on from Harbaugh, Bisciotti spoke with Jackson about the team's desire to sign him to another long-term extension that would lower his salary-cap figure before free agency opens.

DeCosta hammered out several extensions before last season ended, but the Ravens still have key pending free agents, and DeCosta indicated he'd like to "potentially go after a couple big-ticket items."

"We want another window, and Lamar knows that," Bisciotti said. "I think he is amenable to doing something that mirrors the last deal that he did, although the annual number will be a little higher. But I'm hoping that it's plug in your number in the same contract he signed [in 2023] and move on.

"The urgency of that matters to me because we've got free agents, and I don't want to go into free agency with that hanging over our head. I made that clear to Lamar, and I think he was very appreciative of my stance, and hopefully, willing to work with Eric and not get this thing dragged out into April like it was the last time."

Ravens want to improve their pass rush and offensive line this offseason.

After the Ravens hire their next head coach, DeCosta will turn his focus to how to improve the roster.

After a challenging 2025 season, they already have some ideas.

The Ravens' 30 sacks this season were tied for the third fewest in the league. Meanwhile, Jackson's 36 sacks taken were tied for the ninth most despite missing four games.

Bisciotti cited the loss of defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike to a neck injury early in the season as a major impact on Baltimore's pass rush troubles. And DeCosta said the offensive line played well at times, but not consistently enough.

But both leaders acknowledged that improvements need to be made this offseason.

"I think generally speaking, we've got to do a better job of creating pressure on defense," DeCosta said. "That will help the secondary, I think, being complementary on defense that way. Getting after it [and] affecting the quarterback – affecting the pocket would be something big.

"I know the offensive line seemed to be a narrative this year. In some games, I thought the line played well, in other games, we struggled. I think we have pieces. I think we've got to be more consistent on the offensive line. We just didn't gel quite as much this year in that way."

Bisciotti didn't like the development of the Ravens' offensive linemen. Baltimore leaned on improvements from second-year starters Daniel Faalele, Andrew Vorhees, and Roger Rosengarten.

"I think those offensive linemen didn't improve," Bisciotti said. "I think that you can look at a lot of guys on our team that we had expected to take the next step that did not take that next step. And we've got to get to the bottom of that with coaching and scouting."

Bisciotti has confidence in DeCosta.

While Bisciotti mentioned wanting improvements in scouting, he put clear faith in DeCosta to continue to lead the charge.

DeCosta has been the Ravens' general manager since 2019 and will be entering a huge eighth season on the job in which he'll lead the head coach search, seek a contract extension with Jackson and other free agents, and need to improve a team looking to get back in the playoffs.

"I think Eric is one of the best GMs in the league," Biscotti said. "I think he's batting .800. I'm just making up a number for you, but I'm not going to look at Eric's 200 whiffs. I'll look at his 800 singles and doubles and home runs. To me, that's fair. I'm very, very pleased with Eric.

"I know that Eric has been very, very introspective about his failures and how they contributed to our dear friend being shown the door, and so, nobody's harder on himself than Eric. So, I think I can leave him alone for a while and focus on what we've got here with an empty chair."

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