Brian Billick led the Baltimore Ravens to their first Super Bowl, beating the Pittsburgh Steelers to their next trophy. But a year after finishing 13-3, his crew experienced a rash of injuries. On the other side, he lost his job—and never coached again. But he still takes the occasional shot at the Steelers.
The Ravens hired John Harbaugh after firing Billick, and the rest is history. It turns out the last thing Billick ever did with the Ravens was beat the Steelers—and he wishes he savored it more, in hindsight. That’s a little anecdote he shared with Jon Gruden with Barstool recently.
Talking about the Ravens’ 13-3 2006 season, during which they lost to the eventual-champion Colts, Brian Billick rattled off the list of key injuries they had the following year, including to some future Hall of Famers and multiple quarterbacks.
“We end up going 5-11 and get fired. And it was a shock to the system. That’s the biggest thing that I regret. Appreciate the job that you have”, Billick said after the Ravens let him go, “because my last game was against [the] Pittsburgh [Steelers]. We beat them. I get fired the next day, and it’s the last time I coached.
“It’s the last time I was on the field. Like the player that ends a career and you don’t realize it. It’s one thing when you realize it’s your last game. And that’s probably the one thing that stuck with me was when you’re coaching, you have that opportunity, appreciate it. Because it’s gonna end, just like the players”.
Brian Billick started that season 4-2 before things spiraled out of control, going on an 11-game losing streak that included a loss to the Steelers. But in the finale, Billick’s Ravens beat Mike Tomlin’s Steelers. Of course, the Steelers had locked up the AFC North at that point and were resting starters.
But the Ravens were also up 27-7 on the Steelers hallway through the fourth quarter before Billick had to worry. A 59-yard touchdown from Charlie Batch to Santonio Holmes got things started, then the Steelers recovered an onside kick.
With a little under four minutes to play, the Steelers pulled to within one score of the Ravens, and surely Brian Billick was thinking the worst. They didn’t attempt an onside kick, but the Steelers did force the Ravens to punt with nearly two minutes to play. Batch completed a 28-yard pass on 3rd and 19 from his own 2-yard line, but then the Ravens intercepted him.
And that sealed Brian Billick’s final game with the Ravens, a 27-21 win over the Steelers. Troy Smith, his third-string quarterback, took two final knees to put it to bed. Surely he thought it was a good way to end the season hoping for better next year.
The Ravens did see better in 2008, even if it ended with a loss to the Steelers, but not with Billick. That was the debut season for Harbaugh and QB Joe Flacco, who came up short in the conference finals. The Steelers won the Super Bowl two weeks later. And they have won as many Super Bowls as Brian Billick has since.
