In his first year as head coach of the Chargers, Jim Harbaugh turned around a 5-win team in 2023 into an 11-win squad that made the postseason. Now that is impressive by itself, but being able to follow it with a similar — or even better — season in 2025 would truly be incredible. The Bolts benefitted from one of the softest schedules in the league in 2024 and thanks to their strong performance, the road to the playoffs is much more difficult this go-round.
So if Harbaugh finds a way to get to 11
or wins this year, with chances to beat the Eagles and potentially a series sweep of the Chiefs, you can see just how easy it could be for him to win something like NFL Coach of the Year.
In fact, analysts at ESPN recently went about predicting the winners of the league’s annual awards and Harbaugh ended up getting the nod for Coach of the year.
Here’s what they had to say about Harbaugh and his potential for winning the honor:
“The Chiefs are sitting on nine consecutive AFC West titles. The Chargers showed Friday night why that streak could be in jeopardy.“
“Harbaugh has changed the equation in Los Angeles, which is 12-6 since he took over. After last week’s win over Kansas City in Sao Paulo, Harbaugh is 6-0 in Week 1 dating to his San Francisco days.“
“‘He has a team that can win the West, which would be an accomplishment,’ an NFC executive said. ‘He has that team playing with an edge ’”
“Evaluators noted that the offense appears to be evolving in Roman’s second year as playcaller. Justin Herbert was a crisp 25-of-34 for 318 yards, three passing touchdowns and 32 rushing yards. Last season, Herbert averaged fewer than 30 passing attempts per game since Los Angeles leaned heavily on the run. The Chargers were unafraid to pass the ball late in the game and with the lead Thursday night. That shows Harbaugh’s ability to adapt.“
“Harbaugh has won everywhere he has been, so the momentum he has built in Los Angeles should be no surprise.“
The Chargers are the only team in the NFL who will begin this season with three consecutive games against divisional opponents. They will travel to Las Vegas to play the Raiders this week on Monday night football before hosting the Broncos in Week Three. After that, they will head to the Giants in Week Four. If the Bolts can manage to play at the level they did against the Chiefs in these upcoming games, they could very well enter their matchup with the Commanders at 4-0. If the Bolts could ride this early wave through the season as long as possible, I think their potential is all of a sudden up there with the best teams.
But only time will tell.
