John Harbaugh has gotten himself off the hot seat. All it took was making the move to Lamar Jackson and winning four of five games to boost the Ravens' playoff chances heading into the final two weeks of the season.

On Friday, the Ravens announced they will retain their coach heading into next season while the two sides work on reaching a contract extension. As it stands, Harbaugh's contract doesn't expire until after next season.

Harbaugh entered the season on the hot seat after team owner Steve Bisciotti admitted in February that he considered firing Harbaugh after the 2017 season, which resulted in a third-straight playoff-less season for the Ravens. When the Ravens got off to a 4-2 start, all appeared to be well in Baltimore ... right up until the moment the team dropped three straight games heading into a Week 10 bye. At 4-5, the Ravens' playoff chances appeared to be on the brink of collapse, which didn't bode well for Harbaugh's future. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport even reported in early November that a midseason firing wasn't entirely out of the question.

But after making the switch to Jackson, the Ravens have won four out of their past five games, with their only loss coming to the Chiefs in Kansas City. At 8-6, the Ravens hold the sixth seed in the AFC, but they're still very much in play in the AFC North. They're only half a game behind the Steelers for first place in the division as Pittsburgh heads to New Orleans to play the Saints and the Ravens head to Los Angeles to face the Chargers. 

Of course, there's a chance the Ravens will lose out and miss the playoffs with the Colts, Titans, and Dolphins in pursuit. But if we trust the Ravens -- remember, the Titans reneged on a similar type of promise last season -- Harbaugh has already done enough to get at least one more season in Baltimore. 

If Harbaugh had been fired, he would've been one of the hottest head coaching candidates available for hire. Since getting the job in 2008, Harbaugh has led the Ravens to a 102-72 record, six playoff appearances, a 10-5 record in the postseason, and one Super Bowl appearance, which they won. 

While success has been hard to find in recent years, there's an argument to be made that Harbaugh is less responsible and Joe Flacco's inordinate contract is more responsible for that. Even when the Ravens have failed to qualify for the playoffs, they've mostly remained competitive. From 2015-17, the Ravens went 22-26. Their 5-11 finish in 2015 is the only time they've gone below .500 with Harbaugh at the reins. They're now on the verge of breaking their playoff drought, though it won't be easy with games against the Chargers and Browns remaining.

Free from Flacco, who will likely be moved in the offseason, and beginning anew with Jackson, a quarterback with a much different set of skills than Flacco, the Ravens are entering a new era of football. It just so happens that Harbaugh will be the one guiding them away from a past he built and into the future.