Popper: Jim Harbaugh was the asset the Chargers couldn't afford to lose

Jim Harbaugh is the new head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, and to understand what this means and why it has happened, you have to understand where the organization has been.

Owner Dean Spanos announced the move from San Diego to LA in an open letter to fans on January 11, 2017. In the seven years and fourteen days since, the Chargers have faced an uphill battle to find their place in one of the most competitive clubs. sports markets in the world. A battle of their own making, but a battle nonetheless.

The organization knew it would take time to cultivate this new land, plant the seeds, nurture and cultivate the seedlings until one day they would grow into a matured fan base. So the Chargers took their lumps, some deserved and some not. Via a football stadium with 27,000 seats that is flooded every Sunday with fans of the opposing team. Through a paradigm shift in franchise quarterback from Philip Rivers to Justin Herbert. Through a temporary practice space and two head coaches and a uniform redesign.

What was missing is the most important thing: winning in January and February. They have the exciting star quarterback. They have the brand appeal, from the dashing powder blue jerseys to the cutting edge content. But in sports, that means nothing without trophies, banners and parades. Especially in this city. The company wins in the end.

Every time the Chargers had a chance over the last seven years and fourteen days, they failed.

The huge loss to the New England Patriots in the divisional round in 2018.

The Week 18 overtime loss in Las Vegas in 2021 that squandered one of the great comebacks in recent league history.

Jacksonville.

For the Chargers, the hump separating them from Los Angeles' relevance has proven to be a mountain. They brought it on themselves, and they failed to deliver that most essential ingredient, sustainable extraction.

And so when the team moved on from head coach Brandon Staley and general manager Tom Telesco in December following a disastrous loss to the Raiders, the quest to win and win alone became the driving motivation.

Players and coaches are often asked about the sense of urgency when a season is in full swing.

Over the past month, the Spanos family has struggled with the urgency of the moment.

The shelf life for filing a claim in LA is finite and the lead is in sight.

The Chargers had no choice but to push their boundaries, their approach and their identity to find that missing ingredient. To find the person who can give them the victory they so desperately need. To do that, they had to go shopping at the pinnacle of the sport. No newcomers or rising stars. No, they needed a proof of concept. A winner through and through, with the skins on the wall to show for it.

Enter Jim Harbaugh.

He agreed to a deal with the Chargers on Wednesday, the team announced. According to the spokesperson, this is a five-year agreement The Athletics's Jeff Howe.

“Jim Harbaugh is the personification of football,” Dean Spanos said in a statement.

the man we wanted, the man we got. pic.twitter.com/BIRjDWbUBy

— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) January 25, 2024

The results speak for themselves.

In 2007, Harbaugh took over a Stanford program that had finished 1-11 the previous season. In 2009, the Cardinal finished 8-5. The next season the team went 12-1, including a win in the Orange Bowl.

In 2011, Harbaugh moved to the NFL, taking over a San Francisco 49ers team that went 6-10 the season before. That first year they went 13-3 and reached the NFC Championship Game. The next season, in 2012, they made it to the Super Bowl. They won 12 games and reached their third consecutive conference championship in 2013. They went 8-8 in 2014 before Harbaugh left for Michigan. Harbaugh finished with a record of 44-19-1. He has never had a losing record as an NFL head coach.

When Harbaugh arrived in Ann Arbor to lead his alma mater in 2015, the Wolverines had won more than eight games just once in the previous seven seasons, through two head coaches. In 2015 they won ten games. In 2016 they again won ten games. They went 40-3 over the past three seasons, a streak that ended with a national championship in January. It was the university's first national title since 1997.

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“You need a team,” president of football operations John Spanos said in a statement. “And no one in recent history has built a team more successfully and repeatedly than Jim Harbaugh.”

What the Harbaugh appointment represents is the organization's financial and ideological commitment to winning.

“This organization is doing the work: investing capital, building infrastructure and doing everything it can to win,” Harbaugh said in a statement.

That doesn't feel like lip service. Not this time.

The Chargers' new practice facility in El Segundo, California, will open in the spring. They signed Herbert to a top extension. They went to a deep and hyper-qualified pool of head coaching candidates and came away with perhaps the best of the bunch.

Will it all work?

That remains to be seen.

But the dedication means something.

Because of where the Chargers have been and where they hope to go.

(Photo: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)