Is Jim Harbaugh Losing the Chargers? Khalil Mack’s Comment Might be a Hint

One Khalil Mack comment adds to the fire around Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers.

Khalil Mack | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

One of the sudden, big new conversations around the mid-flopping Los Angeles Chargers is the fact head coach Jim Harbaugh is a “CEO” style head coach. 

Meaning, Harbaugh doesn’t have major sway over either side of the football. Where some head coaches specialize in one side and bring on a coordinator who can dominate the other, Harbaugh is the sort of oversight head coach who lets both his coordinators go to work. 

Problem is, Harbaugh’s dad-joke style publicly and whatever he’s doing in this role privately is starting to majorly backfire. Not coincidentally, this is happening during the same season the Chargers changed coordinators on both sides of the ball. 

So, what’s going on? Khalil Mack might’ve unfortunately just provided a major hint. 

Khalil Mack’s Jim Harbaugh comments raise eyebrows

Jim Harbaugh | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

After the embarrassing loss to the Las Vegas Raiders to hit 0-2, reporters found future Hall of Famer Khalil Mack in the locker room and had some questions for him. 

According to ESPN’s Kris Rhim, when asked about Harbaugh’s message to the team, Mack said this: "Honestly, I blanked out the whole time. I don't really know. My mind was on the game still, but I feel like it had something to do with picking up the pieces and getting this thing right." 

We can go one of two ways with this: 

• This is reading too much into it with a negative slant. Mack’s giving a pretty honest answer. 
• Or, this is a future HOF player who knows how to give good media interviews and a captain admitted he checked out of a head coach’s rally speech after a game. 

The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. But let’s not forget something: 

Harbaugh ranked poorly with his players during the latest NFLPA report card grades. 

Now, we handwaved this off at the time as not a big deal. Harbaugh’s goofy one-liners and quips and overexaggerations about his players are good fun that surely get some eyerolls in the locker room. 

But now? Maybe we should have thrown a bigger emphasis at it. Because, in addition to Mack’s comments, Herbert does sort of look a little checked out on the sideline. The overall effort is sloppy and poor on both sides of the ball, too. 

The criticism is going to hit the head coach first. But this is starting to feel like a pretty unique case of where the head coach’s schtick was pretty obviously growing stale, but the results were still there on the field. 

Now, the stuff on the field is failing. A disinterested look from Herbert there and a comment or two from a critical leader like Mack there, and the Harbaugh-Chargers story seems to be heading in a pretty obvious direction. 

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