The goal was clear when Jim Harbaugh was hired as head coach of the Michigan Wolverines in December 2014: defeat Ohio State and bring the school back to prominence on a national scale.
The Wolverines had lagged behind their fierce opponent from 1997 until Harbaugh was hired, while the Buckeyes had won two national titles and participated in two more. Conversely, Michigan didn’t make any appearances at championships. Additionally, the Wolverines only defeated Ohio State twice in 19 attempts between 2001 and 2019.
After winning a national championship during the 2023 season, Harbaugh would eventually help Michigan overcome its adversity by defeating the Buckeyes in each of his final three tries.
Harbaugh agreed to take the head coaching position with the Los Angeles Chargers less than three weeks after winning his last game as a Wolverine. His current assignment is uncannily the same: defeat the Chiefs and bring the Chargers back to prominence on a national level.
Although Kansas City vs. Los Angeles isn’t quite Ohio State vs. Michigan, the Chiefs are the team that stands in the way of everyone in the NFL, especially their divisional rivals.
The Chargers were the best team in the AFC West for a while in the aughts. They won the division five of six seasons from 2004 to 2009. They placed no lower than third in the following three.
But Kansas City has won the division each season since 2016. The Chiefs have also won five in a row and are 12-3 versus the Chargers during that span. (In addition, they have won three Super Bowls in the last five years for good measure.)
It is unrealistic to expect Harbaugh, who has a history of turning teams around from his days as head coach at Stanford to his first NFL stint with the San Francisco 49ers, to take over Kansas City in an instant. After all, quarterback Patrick Mahomes has the entire league looking for solutions. However, it will be intriguing to watch how close Los Angeles is to its main competitor right now on Sunday.
The Chiefs are 11-1 going into Sunday and lead the AFC. However, there are also grounds to think that they are more susceptible than they were in prior years.
Of Kansas City’s 11 victories, only two have been by double digits. The club has won by an average of four points in the last five games. The Chiefs are only 11th in the NFL in terms of point difference behind several five-loss teams, while being tied for the lead in victories.
Mahomes, on the other hand, is on track to record the most interceptions he has ever had in a single season and is only averaging 7.0 yards per attempt, which is tied with last season for a career low. His 92.2 passer rating is also the lowest in his career.
No one is stupid enough to say that Kansas City isn’t good. However, one could argue that the Chiefs are more vulnerable than they were during the previous two seasons, which both ended in titles.
Harbaugh has led the Chargers to an 11-win start to the season after they were 5-12 the previous year. He has relied more on a hard rushing assault and placed less pressure on quarterback Justin Herbert, whose passing yards per game are at a career low.
Los Angeles is 8–4, proving that the formula is working thus far. However, since the Chargers have only won once against a club that is currently over.500, it still needs to be demonstrated against the greatest opponents. Additionally, Kansas City defeated Los Angeles 17–10 in their first meeting of the season previously.
Big moments are nothing new to Harbaugh. He defeated quarterbacks Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers, who had won Super Bowls, in the playoffs with San Francisco, defeated No. 1 USC as a 41-point underdog when coaching Stanford, and then eventually figured out Ohio State.
Harbaugh will be on the Chargers sideline for Sunday’s game, even though the stakes aren’t as high as they were for some of his prior victories.
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