Vikings Can Now View Jim Harbaugh in Action
Ted Schwerzler
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When the Minnesota Vikings were looking for their next head coach after the firing of Mike Zimmer, a wide net was cast.
Vikings Can Now View Jim Harbaugh in Action
Ultimately, they landed on Kevin O’Connell, and it’s hard not to suggest that it’s been a solid hire thus far. That said, one man in contention was Jim Harbaugh, and now he’s back in the NFL elsewhere.
After winning a National Championship with the Michigan Wolverines and having previously been tempted by a jump back to the NFL ranks, a job with the Los Angeles Chargers seemingly was too good to pass up. It’s arguably the most monumental move for the Chargers in years, and now Jim Harbaugh is rejoining the NFL where he last left it as a player.
The biggest winner here is definitely quarterback Justin Herbert. The former Oregon Ducks signal-caller has shown plenty of talent in his first few years of NFL action, but he’s had little consistency in his development, and it appears there is plenty more to unlock. If there’s a coach that could be counted on to do it, Harbaugh seems like the exact type.
When with the San Francisco 49ers, Harbaugh worked his magic with Colin Kaepernick and had the team on the precipice of a Super Bowl. Ultimately, they came up just short against the Legion of Boom Seattle Seahawks, who went on to demolish the Peyton Manning-led Denver Broncos. Harbaugh, though, had Kaepernick playing at a level that Herbert should be expected to exceed.
There is plenty to like about the Los Angeles Chargers roster that Harbaugh is inheriting, but new general manager Tom Telesco has his hands full in turning over a good bit of it. The team had too much talent to go just 5-12 in 2023 and largely underachieved. Losing Herbert and Mike Williams wasn’t ideal, but Keenan Allen will be 32, and Williams will turn 30 in 2024. Austin Ekeler will be 29 years old and has plenty of miles on the tires, while standout names on defense like Erick Kendricks, Nick Bosa, and Kahlil Mack are all starting to fight father time.
Minnesota can look at the Los Angeles situation in a similar view compared to where they would have been should they have hired Harbaugh. Coming off of a disappointing year and needing to go through some roster turnover, how can the man fresh from the college ranks reinvigorate the program, and does he still have the magic at this level that he did a decade ago?
Ted Schwerzler is a Twin Cities blogger focused on all things Minnesota Twins and Minnesota Vikings. He’s active on Twitter and writes weekly for Twins Daily. As a former college athlete and avid sports fan, covering our pro teams with a passion has always seemed like such a natural outlet.
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