By Kenneth Miller, Publisher
Jim Harbaugh
After the Brandon Staley experiment failed miserably, the Chargers brass knew this coaching hire had to be a home run and thus in January the club hired one of the most accomplished coaches in all of football, luring Jim Harbaugh away from collegiate National Champion Michigan.
As pessimistic as the mood was with Staley, it is just the opposite with Harbaugh who brought with him oodles of respect and gridiron acumen this franchise and its desperate fanbase has been starving for.
Harbaugh will begin his Chargers regime on Sunday Sept. 8 when the Bolts host nemesis Las Vegas Raiders in the NFL opener.
This is the Raiders franchise that cost Staley and General manager Tom Telesco their job by hanging one of the worst defeats in NFL history last season, a 63-21 beat down drizzled the Chargers to yet another 5-12 under achieving season.
The year before that, the Bolts squandered a 27-7 halftime playoff lead to Jacksonville before succumbing 31-30.
This is a franchise that has won just 5 playoff games since 2000.
The task that Harbaugh has in front of him is enormous, particularly since the club he will field this season will be one strikingly different from Staley’s outfits.
Gone is stellar wideout Keenan Allen and his lofty 904 receptions, 10,530 receiving yards and 59 career touchdowns, all for the San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers.
Also gone is stalwart running back Austin Ekeler and his 4,355 rushing yards and 39 touchdowns, all with the Chargers.
Allen is now a Chicago Bear and Ekeler a Washington Commander.
Staley is the assistant head coach with the San Francisco 49ers and Telesco landed with the Raiders as the GM.
However, what does return is the prime attraction for this franchise, the blond haired, golden rifle Justin Herbert, a 26-year old jewel of an NFL quarterback.
He’s the one that gave Harbaugh goose bumps when they met, the coach realizing at the first glance that he inheriting the best signal caller he ever had. That coming from a former NFL quarterback himself was more than enough for him to take the gig.
The Golden Rifle already holds NFL records for touchdowns with 31, completions with 396, passing attempts per game 39 and completions per game 26.
This will be just his 5th season in the NFL where he has started two full seasons, 15 games as a rookie but just 13 in 2023 when he suffered a broken index finger.
In Harbaugh’s system he doesn’t have to throw the ball 39 times a game under new offensive coordinator Greg Roman, but he does have to be upright and available for this team to have any shot at dethroning the Kansas City Chiefs dynasty.
That enormous task falls at the feet of offensive tackles Rashawn Slater (LT) and Joe Alt (RT) who will be charged with protecting him.
Running back JK Dobbins will have to prove that he can finally stay healthy and produce at a clip on par if not better than Ekeler and equally important is how well Joshua Palmer, DJ Chark Quentin Johnston performs at receiver. Palmer was second behind Allen in ‘23 with 581 and 2 touchdowns, but he has just 9 TDs in his brief career. Johnston’s rookie campaign was by most accounts an under achievement , 431 yards and 2 touchdowns. Much more is required out of your first round pick.
Khalil Mack led the club with 17 sacks
Defensively, Khalil Mack led the club with 17 sacks and wreaked havoc on opposing offenses, but his teammate and bookend, the much heralded Joey Bosa suffered through yet another injury marred campaign and it remains to be seen what brilliant defensive coordinator Jesse Minter can get out of him.
Clearly, the window for the aging Mack and Bosa is closing and for the Chargers in a league when the top tier of teams have been relentlessly good the Bolts will have some catching up to do.
Not only are the Baltimore Ravens, Chiefs so much better than the rest of the conference, two of the Bolts first three games will be within the conference with the Pittsburgh Steelers sandwiched between the Carolina Panthers and Chiefs on Sept. 29.
Harbaugh wasn’t just hired to save grace, but to do what he did at Michigan, win it all. It won’t be that simple though.
