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Jim Harbaugh had plenty of opportunities to leave Michigan for the NFL over the years. But, he waited for the perfect opportunity, and left to coach Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers following a national championship season at Michigan last year.
It appears that Jim Harbaugh made the right choice. The Chargers are rolling at 6-3, and he and Justin Herbert seem to be a match made in quarterback-coach heaven.
Harbaugh was an NFL quarterback himself, and even spent time with the Chargers in 1999-2000. While his offenses haven’t always been the most friendly for quarterbacks in terms of putting up huge counting stats, he’s always seemed to have a close relationship with his starting quarterbacks. Particularly, Harbaugh and Andrew Luck seemed close when Jim was coaching at Stanford, and Harbaugh and JJ McCarthy were two peas in a pod at Michigan the last two seasons.
That kind of relationship appears to have continued with Herbert. Like McCarthy, Justin Herbert isn’t putting up exceptional counting stats. But, he’s running the offense well and taking care of the ball. Herbert has just one interception this year on 241 attempts. Given the developing corps of pass-catchers for the Chargers, the passing offense isn’t set up to be explosive and take advantage of Justin Herbert’s incredible talent. He needs to take care of the ball and let a strong running game and good defense be the focal point. Justin Herbert has done a great job of that, and I’m sure in years to come the weapons around him will improve and he can get back to being a prolific passer.
The quarterback-head coach relationship is crucial, and it’s fair to say that Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert have a good one. Take a look at this clip, which has gone viral.
nobody:
coach harbaugh: JUSTIN HERBERT pic.twitter.com/5nOdKkVveH— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) November 12, 2024
Yeah, it’s safe to say that Jim Harbaugh is happy with his choice to coach the Los Angeles Chargers.