Chargers News: Jim Harbaugh Explains How Super Bowl Loss Fuels His Coaching
It's Super Bowl Sunday, and either the Kansas City Chiefs or San Francisco 49ers will walk away as champions tonight. For the losers, the common adage is that they will always think about this loss and what they could have done differently for the win for the rest of their lives.
That's the case for new Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh. Eleven years ago, Harbaugh was coaching the San Francisco 49ers in the big game. Harbaugh's 49ers ended up falling 34-31 to the Baltimore Ravens in that Super Bowl, a loss that has played a large part in motivating Harbaugh's return to the NFL.
After that loss, Harbaugh spent two more seasons with the 49ers before a tumultuous end to his tenure with San Francisco brought him to Michigan. Though he spent nine years with Michigan -- finally winning a national championship this past season -- Harbaugh is still driven by his desire to win a Super Bowl.
As his former team gets ready to play in the Super Bowl for the second time since that loss, Harbaugh revealed he still isn't done thinking about his Super Bowl loss.
"There's probably not a day that goes by that I don't think about that game and what we could've done down at the end, (seven) yards away from getting into the end zone," Jim Harbaugh said. "You leave that field and you go, 'there might be other days.' Then you start thinking that might be the only day. Just wanted another shot at it, take another crack."
Harbaugh added, "When I say it motivates me every day, it's every day."
While that Super Bowl loss seems to haunt Harbaugh to this day, it might be exactly what Chargers fans needed. If that loss is what drove Harbaugh back to the NFL, and he can turn the Chargers into a Super Bowl-winning team, both sides will have finally achieved the ultimate goal.
