The Los Angeles Chargers made a big move on Wednesday night by bringing in Jim Harbaugh as their next head coach. Harbaugh is fresh off a national championship at the University of Michigan and all signs pointed to him heading back to the NFL.
The Chargers have had a few disappointing seasons since Justin Herbert won Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2020. Things were looking up for the Bolts, but they lost in the Wild Card round last year before going 5-12 this season.
NFL Insider Brian Baldinger of the Audacy original podcast “In The Huddle” explained why he thinks Harbaugh will lead the Chargers back to the playoffs next season.
“I believe the Chargers will be in the playoffs next year,” Baldinger said (31:40 in player above). “I believe the thing that they have always lacked is toughness, physical toughness, injuries – injuries are always an excuse. I think all of that stops today. It all stops today.”
The Chargers have shown some promise in recent years but they haven’t been able to put it together.
“This is going to be a new Chargers regime. He played for the Chargers late in his career,” Baldinger continued. “He’s going there to rescue the Chargers and make them the team of Los Angeles.”
Harbaugh’s first foray into the NFL went fairly well a decade ago with the 49ers. He won Coach of the Year in his first season, led San Francisco to the Super Bowl in the next, and fell short in the NFC Championship the following year. After an 8-8 season in 2014, Harbaugh and the 49ers parted ways with Jim going back to the college ranks with Michigan.
His experience at Michigan over the last nine years should help him identify talent in the NFL Draft in the coming years. He also proved that he knows how to win, going 37-3 in the last three seasons.
It’s time for the Chargers to go all-in on Harbaugh, Baldinger opined.
“To me, if you’re the Spanos family, why would you wait any longer? Just go all in. They went all in on free agency, it didn’t really work out,” he said. “Just go all in on the coach and his vision and how to do this… Let Jim just come in and put Jim’s system in place and let him do it his way. Just ride that wave. Just get out of his way. Let Jim do it his way.”