INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- To get an idea why the Los Angeles Chargers just won their sixth game of the season, one year after winning only five in all, it helps to watch Jim Harbaugh on a game day.
Less than an hour before kickoff, wearing a pair of bright blue gloves, he is a glorified ball boy, stationing himself around the field -- in the flat, near the sideline, right next to the quarterback, to feed the football to Justin Herbert during his warmup, a somewhat manic grin on Harbaugh's face. During the game, while officials were reviewing a play that at first looked like a Herbert fumble on a sack, Harbaugh stands next to the official, helpfully pantomiming Herbert's sidearm motion, the better to demonstrate to officials what he wanted them to see: that while the defender was dragging Herbert down, he was able to propel his arm forward for an incomplete pass, not a fumble.
And after the game, in the victorious locker room following the 27-17 win over the Tennessee Titans, Harbaugh's playlist featured soft rock staples like Cat's in the Cradle and Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. For the latter, Harbaugh noted that it was the 50th anniversary of the wreck in Lake Superior and, yes, there also was a message for the team that was just for them to know.
In between was a game that featured exactly what Harbaugh -- quirkiness aside -- has brought to the Chargers. An emphasis on toughness -- the running game had 145 yards, the defense was smothering, the offensive line opened gaping holes and protected Herbert -- and energy. Herbert ran for a touchdown and threw for another. Harbaugh announced that he would call him “Beast Herbert” from now on, and he ruminated that nobody else on the planet would have had the strength to hold on to the ball while being sacked and still throw sidearm to make it an incomplete pass. There was a diversion about Herbert carrying bricks around to improve grip strength.
At halftime, Harbaugh told FOX's sideline reporter that he wanted to see the blood pumping and he later said it wasn't because he was worried that the Chargers' energy was flagging. Rather, he wanted to celebrate what he was seeing. Harbaugh won't say it, but it is obvious: The Chargers have assumed Harbaugh's personality, and it has them squarely in the AFC playoff race.
"My red blood was pumping," Harbaugh said later, his eyes widening, his arms waving. "I was excited. Let's all be excited. I thought we had a ton of momentum and umph, I didn't want that halftime to slow us in any way. Let's go! Let's go! What I was seeing on the field … just excitement."
Harbaugh is a compelling collection of oddities, yes, but he is also undeniably an outstanding coach, who has had success at every stop of his coaching career, in college and in the NFL. His specialty is turnarounds -- quick ones and the Chargers are his latest project.
In San Francisco, the 49ers were 6-10 in 2010. In 2011, Harbaugh's first season as the head coach, they were 13-3, won the NFC West and went to the NFC Championship Game, the first of three straight appearances in that game. The next season, they went to the Super Bowl. By 2014, he had worn out his welcome and was gone following an 8-8 season. Still, in each of his four seasons, he presided over a top five defense and a top 10 rushing offense. The Chargers have long had a talented roster replete with big names and few sterling results to show for it. Many of the names here are familiar: Herbert, Joey Bosa, Derwin James, Khalil Mack, Gus Edwards, J.K. Dobbins. The results do not look anything like what the Chargers have had recently.
They entered Week 10 allowing just 12.6 points per game. In the last two weeks, they have had 13 sacks. The running game, a staple of every Harbaugh offense, came alive against the Titans. Harbaugh deflects all credit for the Chargers' turnaround, instead rhapsodizing about everyone from owner Dean Spanos on down.
"This is what we want to do, this is how we want to be," Harbaugh said. "Let's keep doing it."
He reserves his greatest and most plentiful praise for Herbert, freely admitting he is in awe of him, labeling him the Chargers' Guardian of Victory. He said to be around Herbert is to feel like you are around greatness. He recently said that Herbert is the toughest quarterback in the history of the NFL, a title he used to reserve for himself. But in his postgame remarks, Harbaugh name-checked practically every player who stepped foot on the field as part of his celebration of a complete team performance.
Herbert is in his fifth season and as his health has improved in recent weeks, so, too, have his performances and the Chargers' reliance on him. He juked more than one defender while rushing for 32 yards Sunday, and he used his legs to avoid sacks. For all of his individual brilliance, Herbert has played in just one playoff game in his career, a loss. Part of that is that the Chargers exist in the same division with the Kansas City Chiefs. But part of it was the Chargers' own underperformance. Harbaugh appears to have adjusted that.
"He's the best," Herbert said. "To have a guy like that leading the team, it shows up. You turn on the tape and everybody wants to play for him, wants to fight for him. Guys are playing energetic. He's done such a great job preparing us, letting us play free and fast.
"He makes meetings, he makes weightlifting, practicing tons of fun," Herbert continued. "Not always. I didn't mean he makes it super fun. Guys enjoy practice, enjoy going out there and working. That's the most important thing."
The Chargers remain a work in progress. They entered Week 10 with the highest three-and-out rate in the league at 45.1 percent. In the first half, they moved the ball but stalled twice in the red zone, settling for field goals, before finally scoring a touchdown on Herbert's 4-yard run. In the second half, the red blood was pumping and the Chargers scored touchdowns on their first two drives to pull away. That is the kind of resilience that had sometimes been lacking in Chargers teams of the past. The Bolts have excelled in recent weeks in the second half.
Toughness can be practiced, and in the Chargers, that muscle was developed in just one offseason. Herbert pointed to OTAs with what Harbaugh calls fourth-quarter finishers. After practice, after two hours on the field, the team does more drills. They pull sleds, do more drills, to create toughness and the belief that the job is not done. It allows them to know they are tough enough to play four quarters.
"I just try to make right by him," Herbert said. "I just want to make him proud. As long as we're listening and doing things he says, we're going in the right direction."
They will need all of that toughness with the stretch of games to come. The Chargers tied their season high in points scored Sunday, and they have still not allowed more than 20 points to any opponent this season. But it is hard not to notice that their six wins have come against struggling or up-and-coming teams. Their losses have been to the likes of the Steelers and Chiefs. That makes the next few weeks the real litmus test for how far Harbaugh's reclamation project has progressed. The Chargers' next three AFC opponents are the Bengals, Ravens and Chiefs, all fighting for playoff spots and positions.
On Sunday afternoon, Harbaugh calibrated exactly how long it would be before he started thinking about that. His players pour so much into each game that he wants them to enjoy it.
"For me, the next six hours, those are going to be good enjoyment," Harbaugh said. "Somewhere around the 6:30 mark, it will hit me that the Cincinnati Bengals are up next. Then we'll reset our battle rhythm."
