Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
Mike Florio reacts to Ravens firing John Harbaugh, talks NFL coaching carousel
07 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What led to the Ravens firing John Harbaugh?
Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is a man who's got a massive brain.
Mike Florio.
He used to be a lawyer, then he decided to take his talents to the internet.
NBC Sports. I'm sorry I'm late. I was talking to Robert Kraft. That isn't the time for an airing of grievances. Pro Football Talk.
I got a lot of problems with you people. Now, you're going to hear about it.
On Chicago Sports Radio, 670 The Score.
Oh boy, what a day to talk to Mike Florio. How perfectly this lined up for us. And selfishly, I am happy for myself. He is the creator and editor-in-chief of Pro Football Talk. He is at Pro Football Talk on X and also on Blue Sky. He joins us on the Circa Sports Casino Hotline. Download the Circa app today. And he is on Twitch, twitch.tv slash Chicago 670 The Score.
Mike Florio, we basically did like an hour Mike Florio pregame show where we just went over like mystery team scenarios and all of these interesting possible other head coaching jobs that could open up. And keep in mind here in Chicago that when Craig Council became available, we all thought David Ross's job was secure until... Jed Hoyer told him it wasn't.
And the next thing we know, Craig Council's now the manager here. So there's never been a better day to talk to you now that John Harbaugh is available.
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Chapter 2: How does Mike Florio view the NFL coaching carousel?
If that doesn't tell you that things could change in the NFL, I don't know what does. Although, Mike, I will say this. Mike totally can't walk off after somebody asks him a question he doesn't like once he's doing TV and he's trapped on that set now. You have to answer those questions this time.
Well, that's right. And look, that's part of the shift that we've seen from coaches who will act a certain way in a press conference. And then when they're getting paid to talk, it's very different. The prime example of that is one William Stephen Belichick, who has a very different demeanor when he's getting a paycheck to talk than he does when he's getting a paycheck to coach.
Okay, I want to ask you about the coaches who are coaching this weekend outside of Tomlin. Listen, it seems like this is now or never for the Bills because there is no Patrick Mahomes. There is no Lamar Jackson. There is no Joe Burrow. Is Sean McDermott on the hot seat? And how desirable of a job would that be if it were to become open?
Because I'm looking at places John Harbaugh could go, not just the openings themselves, but what else could be open after this weekend?
It would be a strange move though to replace a coach who has failed to take a generational quarterback to a Super Bowl with a coach who has failed to take a generational quarterback to a Super Bowl. So Harbaugh for McDermott would be, I think, a tough sell. They're opening a new stadium in Buffalo.
Owner Terry Pagula is going to have to make the call, but you only have so many years left of Josh Allen's prime. And even though they're a low seed, this is arguably the best chance they have to... to get to the place they've been trying to go since 1993, the last time the Bills went to a Super Bowl.
I think there's a question in Buffalo, and it makes the people in charge very nervous when we start talking about it, because I think they recognize they haven't done enough with Josh Allen. A talent question? Is it a coaching question? And then that sets up the possibility of a half measure where McDermott stays, GM Brandon Bean goes, or Bean stays, McDermott goes.
Or look, I think the right way to run an organization is to have everyone on the same footing. And we're either going to keep everyone or get rid of everyone. But if the bill's job becomes open with Josh Allen, I think that triggers the same reaction by the candidates as the availability of Harbaugh has triggered by the teams that are looking for coaches.
I think that becomes the number one job, no questions asked, if you can go work with Josh Allen and complete the job of building a team around him that turns the Bills into a Super Bowl champion.
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Chapter 3: What teams might pursue John Harbaugh after his firing?
And the follow-up is, how in danger is the entire Chicago Bears coaching staff right now with all this going on? Guys like Al Harris, guys like Declan Doyle. I mean, we just saw John Morton get fired in Detroit.
Well, one of the problems with the hiring cycle is whether it's coordinators, whether it's head coaches, you have distractions created when your assistant coaches are on the list to be interviewed by these teams. That creates a major problem. There are coaches who just hate the current system. Some people think that nothing should happen until after the Super Bowl. That's not practical.
It fits with the timeline of the NFL. Maybe you have to adjust the timeline. I don't know. But it does create issues and it's another challenge for a coach of a successful team to have to keep everyone focused on the task at hand when they're naturally going to be thinking about possible promotions elsewhere.
We're talking to Mike Florio, the creator and editor-in-chief of Pro Football Talk. That's the amazing part about all of this. It's a playoff week here for the first time in years. It's NFL playoffs at their, maybe one of the most exciting weeks that I can think of when you consider the level of competition just up and down the seeds. And here we are talking about
The teams who aren't necessarily playing like that's what makes us so compelling. You know, what do you think about this coaching cycle now that this is such a game changer? I think it's also just one of those times where it might be a potential sea change moment in the league.
Well, I think about where we were a week ago. We had a pretty good idea that the Raiders and the Browns are going to change coaches beyond that. Nobody knew. Nobody knew the Cardinals were going to change coaches, even though Michael Bidwell, the owner of the team, had to have known. Had to have known.
You don't go to bed the night after you finish 3-14 and wake up the next day with a lightning bolt moment that you're going to change your coach. And there's that video that's out there of Bidwell seeking out Jonathan Gannon for this bear hug. In hindsight, it was Michael Corleone and Fredo at New Year's Eve. That's what that was. Because he knew damn well what was happening the next day.
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Chapter 4: How does Mike Tomlin's situation compare to John Harbaugh's?
So... We're at seven, almost a fourth of the league, and that's not atypical. That's the way it works in the NFL. Because it's a zero-sum game with 272 games, there's a winner and there's a loser, except for a tie, which happened, what, once this year. There are going to be good teams, there are going to be bad teams. And the bad teams are going to feel pressure to become good teams.
You want season ticket renewals. And for a team like the Browns, I think Kevin Stefanski was made to be the scapegoat for the failed Deshaun Watson transaction from four years ago. They're going to be selling PSLs to their new stadium. They need the fans to be willing to dig deep into the discretionary income and write the checks.
So they've got to do something to at least create the impression they're trying to change. The best part is they can't lose any more games until next September, but they can at least create the impression for now that they're trying to win more games and get people to renew season tickets and buy those PSLs for the stadium they're going to be building in a few years.
At the other end of the spectrum sits the reigning Super Bowl champion Eagles. I'm just curious because they had a chance to get the two seed, did not play their starters. Do you think Nick Sirianni is in any jeopardy with these head coaching, the carousel spinning the way it is right now? I mean, if they were to lose to the 49ers this weekend?
I'd be stunned because they won the Super Bowl. We went through this exercise in 2023 after they fell apart down the stretch. They were 10 and one. They won one regular season game the rest of the way. They were blown out by the Buccaneers in the wildcard round. And there's that great shot of Jeffrey Lurie in the luxury suite.
And I don't think there's a word to describe the expression on his face. It was a combination of like four different things. And it was almost like one of those paintings where if you look at it from a different angle, it gives you a different impression. But remember, we had a couple of days because the Cowboys got blown out that weekend by the Packers.
The Eagles got blown out Monday night by the Bucs. There were a couple of days where we're wondering, are one of these two teams going to make a move for Bill Belichick? The Cowboys ultimately issued a statement that Mike McCarthy's coming back. The Eagles, I think their attitude was, Only a dysfunctional team feels compelled to issue a statement saying its coach is coming back.
We just went to the Super Bowl. We went to the playoffs. We're not going to make a change. Now, Nick Sirianni had to go in and meet with Jeffrey Lurie and explain how he was going to make it better for 2024, and the plan worked. I just think he has enough equity.
When you consider how he started his career with five straight playoff appearances and some of the things he's accomplished are very, very rare, I think that... it would be a huge surprise if the Eagles would say, hey, we're going to upgrade to John Harbaugh, although that's where Harbaugh worked before he became the Ravens coach 18 years ago.
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