H
eading into his second season as the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, Jim Harbaugh will be a man on a mission. Guiding the Chargers to an 11-6 record in 2024 and back to the playoffs, Harbaugh proved that he is the right man for the job and will look to turn the Chargers into a perennial contender. An elite coach, Harbaugh also has a reputation for his entertaining personality.
Harbaugh can be a quirky guy, but there is no denying that his love for football runs deep. But whenever he coaches, he oftentimes looks unhappy whenever he is pacing the sidelines, having angry faces when he is in the middle of a game. But Harbaugh’s explanation for it is an interesting one– he compares coaching an NFL game to getting a root canal.
Why Harbaugh Looks Angry
Harbaugh has been very successful everywhere he has been and is a coach that every player wants to play for. And while he brings the energy and passion each and every day, coaching in an actual game has Harbaugh looking uncomfortable whenever the camera pans to him. But when speaking with Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, he explained why he gives off the angry vibe when he is coaching in a game.
“Maybe people see me differently. I know some people are like,God you look so angry. Well, I’m in the middle of a football game,” Harbaugh said. “And, I mean, it’s like sitting in a dentist’s chair having someone do a root canal on you; that’s the feeling you have during a game. Parents can understand it, people who have kids that go to their game. A baseball game, O.K., now your kid, he’s at bat with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, or he’s pitching to the top of the order in a tie game. … Whatever that situation is, you want them to do well.”
But no matter what vibe he gives off in-games, one thing is for certain– Harbaugh knows how to make a winner out of anybody. During his tenure at Stanford, Harbaugh took a struggling Cardinal program and turned them into a top-five program within a couple of seasons. When he took over as the San Francisco 49ers coach in 2011, he took a team that had not made the playoffs since 2002 and took them to three straight NFC championship games and a Super Bowl. At Michigan, he turned the program into a national title team in 2023.
Can the Chargers win the AFC West?
For the better part of a decade, the AFC West has been dominated by the Kansas City Chiefs. But for the first time in years, the AFC West is considered one of the toughest division in all of football, with the Denver Broncos, Chargers and Las Vegas Raiders all investing heavily in bringing in new pieces this offseason.
But the Chargers are much more in win-now mode than ever before. With franchise quarterback Justin Herbert coming off of one of his best seasons and the Chargers adding guys such as Omarion Hampton, Najee Harris and Keenan Allen, their offense looks poised to take a massive step forward. At that to a defense that was one of the NFL’s best in 2024 and you have a recipe for major success.
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