There’s a silence that falls over a locker room after a season dies in the final seconds. That’s what settled over the Baltimore Ravens inside Acrisure Stadium on a cold January night after Tyler Loop’s 44-yard field goal attempt drifted wide right and took the entire season with it.​ And DeAndre Hopkins was standing right in the middle of that silence. And now, months later, he’s finally started to talk about what it actually felt like.

“That was probably the hottest I’ve seen a locker room in a while,” Hopkins said in a video shared by Blitz The Gridiron. “Me and Derrick was just looking at each other like, ‘Did that really just happen?’ I didn’t think it was real for a second; I thought I was still dreaming. I was like, ‘Ain’t no way he missed that.’ But you know he human, but yeah, it was hot though.”

The receiver also mentioned the players’ opinions on that kick. He suggested that the locker room wasn’t on board with the decision.

“We felt as players that we should’ve just kept handing the ball off to Derrick [Henry] and let him try to go score.”

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DeAndre Hopkins’ comment subtly points to Harbaugh’s choice back then. Plus, this isn’t the first time he’s talked about that tough loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Following the 26-24 loss, he acknowledged that it wasn’t only about that one missed kick. He pointed out that the team and coaches missed chances late in the game.

“Really, it shouldn’t have gotten down to depending on [Tyler Loop] to kick a 40-yarder… As players, we felt like we should’ve just kept handing the ball off to Derrick [Henry] and let him try to go score,” DeAndre Hopkins said. “Us as players, we feel like they didn’t trust us to go score.”

The last drive still leaves people in Baltimore scratching their heads. The calls made were way too safe when it mattered most. Even with just a few seconds left after Isaiah Likely caught the ball, the Ravens had enough time to create a better chance for their kicker.

In the end, just a small gain could have turned things around. It’s hard to say if it was Harbaugh, Todd Monken, or a mix of both, but the choices made put Tyler Loop in a difficult position. However, in the end, it cost Harbaugh his job, but that was not the full story.

Tyler Loop’s missed kick did not decide Harbaugh’s exit

The Ravens were so close to turning their whole season around. If Tyler Loop had made that 44-yard field goal at the last moment against the Steelers in Week 18, the team would have been playing the Texans at home under the lights. But that miss changed everything, and just a few days later, Baltimore decided to part ways with John Harbaugh after 18 years.

But even if Loop would have made that field goal, the consequence for Harbaugh would have still been the same. Owner Steve Bisciotti was asked by a reporter if Harbaugh would’ve been the head coach if they had made a playoff run. And Bisciotti was pretty clear about it.

“For a week,” Bisciotti said in January.

The choice to part ways with Harbaugh was about the constant blown leads in the fourth quarters and underperformance in the playoffs.

Still, Harbaugh left a great legacy during his tenure. In the regular season, Harbaugh went 180–113 and achieved a 13–11 mark in the postseason. He led the team to a Super Bowl XLVII title, 12 playoff appearances, and six AFC North titles before departing in January 2026.

However, this season, the core remains strong, with Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry still leading the way, giving the Flock something solid to build around. Jesse Minter steps in as the new head coach. Now with fresh ideas coming in, the Ravens will look to reset and respond in the upcoming season.