“He Kinda Laid It Out”: Former Chargers QB Reveals How Jim Harbaugh Crushed His “Entitled” Antics to Give Him a Reality Check

“He is damn good at his job,” ESPN’s Chris Canty had said on Get Up! Every day, Jim Harbaugh wakes up to prove this statement. Some would even say that he has been doing so since the day he stepped foot in the NFL. Back in 1999-2000, the final years when the NFL saw Jim Harbaugh in cleats, carries vivid memories for him. However, someone else who still remembers Jim Harbaugh’s final years of appearance on the field with the San Diego Chargers is former Chargers QB Ryan Leaf.

After almost 24 years, Leaf had a walk down the memory road when prompted to share his experience with the Chargers, especially Jim Harbaugh. The then QB was not afraid to make a huge confession about the way Jim Harbaugh snapped him back to reality. Per his interview with Kay Adams of the ‘Up & Adam’s Show‘, Leaf admitted to being “entitled” during his Chargers days, along with “not knowing how to be a professional.”

It was Jim Harbaugh who taught him “how to be a professional.” “He walked into it. Had a locker just a couple doors down for me, and he just kind of laid it out, and he didn’t suffer with any fools,” Leaf said, speaking highly of his former QB teammate. Thanks to the “professional lessons” that Jim Harbaugh gave, Leaf could build some great relationships with the teams that he played for next. Among all of them, however, the one with Harbaugh was the most special to him.

“He’s still a friend to this day,” Ryan Leaf proudly admitted, recalling how Harbaugh’s no-nonsense attitude in the locker room established a friendly bond between them. Summing up his and the fans’ feelings for the precious talent of maintaining interpersonal relationships with his colleagues, Leaf said, “That’s a reason why he’s continued to be a great leader from the moment he took off the cleats and put on the coach’s hat and glasses.” Now, all that is left to do for Harbaugh is to cement his Super Bowl dream to prove to the market predictions of the previous season that he indeed is the best coach in the market.

 Jim Harbaugh’s Super Bowl dream

After a taintless season and a national championship, Jim Harbaugh still left the Michigan Wolverines. While reported non-co-operation from the Wolverines’ AD, was one of the main reasons, Harbaugh’s unfulfilled Super Bowl dream from the days when he was the San Francisco 49rs coach was not exactly a secret either.

During his 3-year stint with the Niners’, Jim Harbaugh led the team to a Super Bowl appearance in 2012, etching history along the way. It was the first time in the books of the NFL that two brothers, Jim and John Harbaugh, were head coaches of the opposite Super Bowl team. Jim Harbaugh lost that day and his dream to win the Super Bowl remained.

Before the 2023 season as well, Jim Harbaugh was interviewing with some NFL teams, probably driven by his unfulfilled Super Bowl dream. Now that he is with the Chargers, he is strongly believed to lead them to the Lombardi Trophy soon.