The face looked familiar, and so did the cadence of his gung-ho enthusiasm.
His message was clear, if somewhat new, to legions of jilted San Diego Chargers fans steamed over their team’s move to Los Angeles.
Yep, that mug and voice belonged to Jim Harbaugh, back with the Chargers as their head coach as they lean toward Sunday’s season opener against the visiting Las Vegas Raiders.
It’s as hard to type as it is to read: Los Angeles Chargers vs. the Las Vegas Raiders?
The names have changed, and a salty rivalry has cooled. The days of Coach Marty Schottenheimer barking his constant “It’s Raiders Week” is as nostalgic as it was charming.
When the Chargers practiced at Oceanside’s Camp Pendleton in June, Harbaugh offered an olive branch.
“The Chargers are Southern California,” Harbaugh said. “Los Angeles, San Diego, all of SoCal.”
Some shrug, but Harbaugh earned stripes as a local, and he’s in no hurry to erase them.
He spent the final two seasons of his 14-year career as a quarterback in San Diego. In Harbaugh’s last go-around in 2000, he was part of the worst squad in franchise history. It went 1-15, so his loyalty comes with scars.
Harbaugh’s coaching ladder found another rung when resurrecting University of San Diego football.
He still owns a Coronado home and is never shy about singing our region’s praises.
But repairing the rift between the Bolts’ ex-customers and the Spanos family, who yanked away their favorite squad, is a Herculean task.
Harbaugh has climbed countless mountains and shoved back on the naysayers at every stop. Don’t count Harbaugh out in bringing the Chargers back to respectability and, just maybe, a few “Never Chargers” folks along with him.
“He’s won wherever he’s at and he’s a guy that people want to follow and play for,” quarterback Justin Herbert said. “Really excited to get to play for him.”
Will Harbaguh entice former Chargers fans revved about his latest reclamation project?
L.A. rode the AFC West caboose and went 5-12 last year, a season so sour that a housecleaning removed their general manager and coach.
Plus there’s a large block of onetime Chargers fans that will never holler for a Spanos product. I get it, and I don’t blame them for holding a grudge since 2017.
But others still track them, refusing to allow the Spanos family to shred a generational football connection that nothing has really replaced. Sundays watching the Chargers remains a thing, and countless vehicles are still rocking the faded “San Diego Chargers” bumper stickers.
It was a car wreck in ’23, but maybe the Chargers will find a smooth patch with Harbaugh changing everything about an organization known for its pratfalls, not production.
The Harbaugh buzz, though, only sizzles so far.
The Chargers are breaking in a new backfield, and their pass-catchers are fairly anonymous. Herbert has to show his foot is fit and that he can be efficient behind a rebuilt and likely upgraded front line.
Defensively, it’s about meeting at the pocket with edge rushers Khalil Mack and Joey Bosa supplying a glorious one-two punch. But Mack, 33, has to stiff-arm Father Time, and Bosa needs to stay healthy.
The linebacker unit is average, and the secondary, save star safety Derwin James Jr., has questions, as well.
Oh well, it’s headfirst into another season, and again, without a local NFL bunch to cheer. Maybe Harbaugh changed that narrative by luring fans back after the Spanos family turned their backs on them.
Contact Jay Paris at [email protected] and follow him @jparis_sports
