![\"Derwin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/SUT-L-chargers-practice-031-1.jpg\")
Derwin James Jr. of the Los Angeles Chargers participates in drills during an NFL football training camp at Torero Stadium on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\nCan Jim Harbaugh\u2019s third Los Angeles Chargers team avoid the baseball bat?<\/p>\n
I ask because recent Chargers coaches saw their program unravel, rather than ascend, in the pivotal third year.<\/p>\n
\u201cNormally, your third year, it fits,\u201d veteran NFL coach Andy Reid told the Kansas City Star a decade ago. \u201cYou kind of establish what you are or what direction you\u2019re going.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reid said that in his study of the industry, a bad third year often lands extra hard.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt hits you in the head like it\u2019s a baseball bat,\u201d Reid said.<\/p>\n
I ask because a Louisville Slugger arrived for third-year Chargers teams led by Mike McCoy, Anthony Lynn and Brandon Staley, the coaches who most recently preceded Harbaugh.<\/p>\n
Each coach had begun with two winning seasons only to get exposed in their third years, falling to 4-12, 7-9 and 5-11.<\/p>\n
None of those programs recovered, and the stars of each coach plummeted, too.<\/p>\n
So when Harbaugh brought his team to the University of San Diego last month for two days of training camp, the question was put to Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz.<\/p>\n
Will Harbaugh\u2019s third team avoid the third-year drubbing?<\/p>\n
Hortiz bristled.<\/p>\n
Harbaugh, he insisted, belongs in a different category.<\/p>\n
Harbaugh led four San Francisco 49ers teams earlier in his career, where McCoy, Lynn and Staley were new to head coaching when hired by Chargers leaders Dean Spanos, John Spanos and Tom Telesco.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is Jim\u2019s seventh year as an NFL head coach,\u201d Hortiz noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t put that together with the previous guys,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s not apples to apples. It\u2019s not apples to oranges.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t call it apples to steaks.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Harbaugh\u2019s third year with the 49ers, 2013, his team did what Harbaugh teams tend to do:\u00a0They put the wood to most opponents.\u00a0The rugged style took them to the NFC Championship Game.<\/p>\n
Though the 49ers didn\u2019t match Harbaugh\u2019s second team by reaching the Super Bowl, that NFC title bout in Seattle was nearly as big. The Seahawks won 23-17, then went on to trounce the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n
If Harbaugh\u2019s Chargers get to the AFC title game, it\u2019ll be the franchise\u2019s first one since the 2007 season.\u00a0They\u2019re heavy favorites to win the season opener Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals.<\/p>\n
Derwin James Jr. of the Los Angeles Chargers participates in drills during an NFL football training camp at Torero Stadium on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
According to the quintessential Harbaugh guy among Chargers players, the coach\u2019s rare consistency and enthusiasm have them ready to put on a show this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe brought us a culture,\u201d said All-Pro safety Derwin James Jr. \u201cTo be able to be here in year three with him, it feels good, it feels right.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t wait for the world to see what we\u2019ve got building up this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quarterback Justin Herbert said everyone on the team respects Harbaugh, a former NFL QB whose teammates praised his toughness.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone works harder, wants to fight harder and play harder for him,\u201d Herbert said.<\/p>\n
The Chargers have gone 11-6 in Harbaugh\u2019s first two seasons. But where McCoy\u2019s first team and Lynn\u2019s second team won road playoff games, Harbaugh\u2019s team has lost two in as many seasons.<\/p>\n
The offense was the culprit each time.<\/p>\n
![\"Chargers](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789176251_72_GettyImages-2291732278.jpg\")
Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert warms up as new offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel watches before a preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers on Aug. 20, 2026, at SoFi Stadium. (Photo by Luke Hales\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
I expect Harbaugh\u2019s team to avoid the third-year plummet.<\/p>\n
By hiring Mike McDaniel as offensive coordinator, Harbaugh raised the program\u2019s upside.<\/p>\n
Harbaugh opened up the job by firing Greg Roman, his former 49ers coordinator.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a big deal that McDaniel, 43, coached for seven years under Kyle Shanahan and three years under Mike Shanahan.<\/p>\n
Shanahan-system expertise equates to NFL gold as an offensive coach.<\/p>\n
Look for McDaniel to get Herbert back to playing on time, rewarding Hortiz and Harbaugh for hiring the coach after the Dolphins fired him as their head coach in January.<\/p>\n
Because of poor pass blocking by multiple Chargers teams, Herbert has developed bad habits that his very good seasons overshadowed. While Herbert overcame many of those emerging tendencies, the bad habits became more evident in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
In particular, they showed up in the loss at New England last January. Per NFL analyst J.T. O\u2019Sullivan, a former NFL quarterback, Herbert failed to pull the trigger on several pass plays in the first half and third quarter that should\u2019ve gone for first downs or touchdowns.<\/p>\n
Expect McDaniel, 43, to make Herbert more capable of succeeding not only in the regular season but in the postseason.<\/p>\n
\u201cMcDaniel is going to be huge for Justin Herbert,\u201d NFL analyst Daniel Jeremiah said in an email. \u201cHe\u2019s going to bake in some quick, on-time throws with run-after-catch potential.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a run-game genius, and he\u2019ll dress up play action to work off the run-game success.<\/p>\n
\u201cJustin shouldn\u2019t take as much punishment because of this approach.\u201d<\/p>\n
The McDaniel-Herbert angle isn\u2019t an unfamiliar one in Chargers Land.<\/p>\n
Hired in 2013, McCoy and staff installed a quick-pass game that untracked Philip Rivers, who\u2019d fallen into bad habits that had a lot to do with poor pass-blocking.<\/p>\n
Rivers, getting the ball out on time, orchestrated a ball-control offense that led the NFL in yards and plays per drive yet also finished second in yards per pass attempt.<\/p>\n
Whetting the appetite of L.A.\u2019s supporters eager to see what McDaniel\u2019s coaching can do, Kyle Shanahan\u2019s 49ers offense Thursday night ripped the favored Rams in San Francisco\u2019s lopsided victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe (Shanahan) offense, all throughout the league, it\u2019s a tough offense to play against,\u201d Hortiz said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMike knows it better than anybody, and he calls it and implements it better than anybody,\u201d the GM added, likely excluding Shanahan. \u201cAnd then, just his enthusiasm and ability to connect with everybody \u2014 the players, the staff \u2014 it\u2019s really neat to see.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a fun year for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harbaugh has seen his Chargers defense finish first and ninth in the NFL, while his special teams have landed in the top half each year.<\/p>\n
McDaniel said the chance to work for Harbaugh and with Chargers players made the job ultra attractive.<\/p>\n
Foremost of those players is Herbert. The 28-year-old QB has succeeded when supported by consistent line play, yet also boasts improvisational skills that set him apart from many NFL starters.<\/p>\n
McDaniel has a bitter taste of how good Herbert can be, courtesy of the A-plus escape and completion the 6-foot-6 quarterback pulled off to beat the Dolphins last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cCrushed me, man,\u201d McDaniel said.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan\u2019t beat him, join him.\u201d<\/p>\n
The L.A. forecast: 11 wins in the regular season and one playoff victory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Can Jim Harbaugh\u2019s third Los Angeles Chargers team avoid the baseball bat? I ask because recent Chargers coaches…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461132,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[181,1333,752,74,76,75,127,1696],"class_list":["post-461131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-latest-headlines","tag-los-angeles-chargers","tag-nfl","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-sports","tag-top-stories-sdut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}