Chargers News: Former Pro Bowl Safety Says Jim Harbaugh Will Take Bolts to AFC Championship in 2024
Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh is developing a reputation for turning programs around and transforming them into winners quickly. One of his most successful turnarounds was with the San Francisco 49ers. When Harbaugh was named the 49ers' new head coach in 2011, he took over for a program that had gone 6-10 in year before.
In just one year with the 49ers, they won the NFC West and advanced all the way to the NFC Championship game, where they fell to the New York Giants. The 49ers would return to the NFC championship game the next two seasons (including a Super Bowl berth during the 2012 season), before a disappointing 2014 season led to Harbaugh and the 49ers parting ways.
One of his former San Francisco players, three-time Pro Bowl safety Donte Whitner, is confident that Harbaugh will pull off the same type of turnaround for the Chargers.
“Jim Harbagh’s a winner," Whitner told Kay Adams on the Up & Adams Show. "Jim Harbaugh’s gonna have the Chargers in the AFC championship [in his first year] You can rewind this during championship weekend.”
Whitner does not believe that Harbaugh is the sole reason the Chargers are capable of making the AFC title game, but the combination of Harbaugh along with Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert and the other talent on the team.
“First of all, he has his quarterback," Whitner said. "He’s the quarterback whisperer, like he was with [Michigan signal caller] J.J. McCarthy, [Niners quarterback] Colin Kaepernick. Any other quarterbacks that were under the tutelage of Harbaugh, he figures out what your strengths are and he tailors his offense around that and the running game. Then his defense, they have [Joey] Bosa on one side and then [Khalil] Mack on the other side, along with then the secondary, with how fundamental and physical he demands his teams to be, I believe that Jim Harbaugh and the LA Chargers are going to be in the AFC Championship Game this year.”
The expectations are certainly high for Harbaugh on the Chargers, even if not everyone is predicting as boldy as Whitner that the team will immediately make the AFC title game, given its depleted offensive weapons around Pro Bowl quarterback Justin Herbert. It wouldn't be crazy though for Harbaugh to lead this team back to the playoffs, especially since they are just two seasons removed from their last playoff appearance.
