EL SEGUNDO — Harbaugh Bowl III is Monday night at SoFi Stadium. Jim and the Chargers play host to John and the Baltimore Ravens, their third meeting as NFL coaches but the first since John and the Ravens defeated Jim and the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl 47 on Feb. 3, 2013 in New Orleans.
John and the Ravens also defeated Jim and the 49ers in a regular-season game on Nov. 24, 2011, making the family record 2-0 in favor of the older of the sons of a former college football coach, Jack Harbaugh. The third meeting looms as another competitive matchup between competitive brothers.
If it upsets Jim Harbaugh that he’s 0-2 against his brother, he wouldn’t say. He disagreed that he’s the “ultimate competitor.”
“There are probably two parts to that,” Jim said Wednesday, as the Chargers returned to the practice field after their 34-27 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday night at SoFi Stadium, their fourth consecutive victory and their seventh in 10 games since he took over as coach.
“Ultimate competitor?” he continued. “No. It’s only the players that can be ultimate competitors, in my mind. They’re the ones that are actually on the field. Coaching, you’re an advice giver. The way you (a reporter) phrased the question, if I’m agreeing with that, yeah, I once was. There was a time.
“The other side of that was as I was walking off the field at that Super Bowl, it was like, there will be another day. Then there wasn’t for many years. It looked like that day wouldn’t be a chance for another day. By the grace of God, back in it. Back on a team that has a chance to do that. I’m very thankful. That’s how I feel.”
Jim coached the 49ers for the next two seasons, but a Super Bowl rematch never materialized. He jumped to the University of Michigan after he was fired after an 8-8 season with San Francisco in 2014.
John stayed put with the Ravens, remarkably successful but lacking another Super Bowl victory after that 34-31 victory over Jim and the 49ers. He’s coached Baltimore for 17 years, so there would be no rematch with Jim coaching at Michigan for the past nine seasons.
But, after Jim led Michigan to a 15-0 record and the national championship in the 2023 season and he returned to the NFL to coach the Chargers, it seemed fitting that they would meet again on the field in a midseason matchup and on “Monday Night Football,” to boot.
The Chargers are 7-3, second in the AFC West.
The Ravens are 7-4, second in the AFC North.
Not for nothing, but Harbaugh Bowl III also falls on the date of their parents’ wedding anniversary.
“It’s about the excitement of the big game,” Jim said. “I’m sure it’s the same way as my brother does (feel about the game), as my family does. It’s about the two teams. It’s about those who are coaching and those who are playing. I’m sure he doesn’t want to make it about him. I don’t want to make it about me.
“It is what it is, a big game, for sure.”
There are, not surprisingly, a number of intriguing subplots to this game, starting with a compelling matchup of standout quarterbacks, two players with contrasting but highly successful styles. One is renowned for his pinpoint accuracy and the other for his creativity with the ball in his hands.
Justin Herbert has been remarkable in leading the Chargers to four consecutive victories and five in their past six games, rounding into form from a badly sprained right ankle suffered in Week 2. He hasn’t thrown an interception in 246 passes, breaking his own team record of 233.
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“We know how important this is for him,” Herbert said of Jim Harbaugh. “I know if I were playing one of my brothers, it would be a really cool opportunity. My parents would love to be there in support. I can only imagine how big this is for him and his family. It’s a special moment for him.”
The Ravens’ Lamar Jackson is second behind Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow in passing yards with 2,876 and passing touchdowns with 25. Burrow has thrown for an NFL-leading 3,028 yards and 27 touchdowns. Jackson also has benefitted from the offseason addition of bruising running back Derrick Henry, who leads the NFL in rushing yards with 1,185 and touchdowns with 13.
John Harbaugh didn’t speak to Baltimore-area reporters on Wednesday. He wasn’t asked about facing Jim when he met with them Monday, one day after a loss to the Ravens’ AFC North rival, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“We’ve texted each other, like we have in other weeks,” Jim said of reaching out to John, a common practice during the season that just happened to fall this week in the days leading up to the biggest game of the season for both teams and both coaches. “Wished him a good week. He wished me a good week.”