Los Angeles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh, a man who often invokes the phrase of living with "an enthusiasm unknown to mankind," can be prone to hyperbole. Yet there was reason to believe him when, Sunday afternoon, heproclaimed to reportersthat "I don't think I have the vocabulary to express how great I feel." The optimism wasn't just that Harbaugh's Chargers had wrapped up a victory that improved them to 3-0, making them one of six remaining undefeated NFL teams, with each victory coming against an opponent within their division. It stemmed also fromhowthe franchise famed for taking leads only to cough them up had beaten the Denver Broncos in Week 3. After they took a 10-0 lead against Denver, the Chargers quickly allowed 17 unanswered points and still trailed 20-13 with five minutes left in the fourth quarter. With two minutes left, quarterback Justin Herbert shrugged off or evaded multiple would-be tacklers, scrambled to his left and was able to throw around an oncoming defender's shoulder pad and fit the pass into a sliver of space for a 20-yard, game-tying touchdown. "Just enough time to get the ball off," Herbert said afterward, "and never a doubt." One minute later, the Chargers got the ball back and went on a methodical eight-play drive that ended with a game-winning kick as time expired. It was the kind of game the franchise had lost numerous times in its recent history. Since 2010, the Chargers had lost 45 games after having led at any point during the fourth quarter — the most in the NFL, according to the statistics database Stathead. But there was a reasonHarbaugh yelled"the worm has turned!" during his postgame locker-room speech Sunday and declared the finish "cold-blooded stuff!" It was the team's second gritty victory already of the season, after it closed out Kansas City in Week 1 under similar circumstances. Is it time to take the Chargers, off to their best start since 2002, seriously as a championship contender? "A lot of that has to do with confidence," said Dan Fouts, the franchise's Hall of Fame quarterback and longtime television analyst, who spent time around the team during preseason. "And I think the team has a tremendous amount of confidence in Justin and that he'll get it done. "That's what separates the good quarterbacks from the great ones, making sure that you can come back and you fight right to the end and you make plays." Since Herbert became the team's starter in 2020 and broke nearly every rookie passing record, the Chargers have shown flashes of Super Bowl potential. Herbert is the youngest passer in NFL history to reach 2,000 career completions. Last week, Hall of Fame quarterbackDan Marino lumped Herbertamong three-time Super Bowl winner Patrick Mahomes and two-time MVP Lamar Jackson as quarterbacks he most enjoys watching. Reaching that potential, however, has often been undercut by self-inflicted wounds. In the past decade, the Chargers have blown leads of11 or more points 10 times. The most memorable was the 27-point lead they lost during the playoffs in 2023, the third-largest collapse in playoff history. A year later, Harbaugh was hired fresh off a collegiate national championship at Michigan and helped build the league's 13th-ranked scoring offense and third-best scoring defense. Yet of their seven losses last season, including a postseason exit in the wild-card round, the Chargers failed to score more than 20 points in six of them, their offense disappearing. This season, the Chargers have shown resolve in big moments. In August, starting offensive tackle Rashawn Slater, one of the team's key offseason signings aimed at boosting its offense, was lost for the season with a knee injury. It was part of a preseason stretch when there were so many injuries that the team scrapped a scheduled joint practice with the Los Angeles Rams. Yet in Week 1, in Brazil, the Chargers took a 10-0 lead against Kansas City, allowed 12 unanswered points and never relinquished the lead. Herbert secured a late first down on a scramble to run out the clock on the defending conference champion. There are signs for concern. Slater isn't the only key starter out for either the entire season (running back Najee Harris) or a potentially significant amount of time (linebacker Denzel Perryman, pass rusher Khalil Mack). Herbert was pressured on more than half his dropbacks Sunday, and he has already been sacked 10 times, which has raised hopes that offensive lineman Mekhi Becton (concussion) can return soon. "After preseason, it looked like they were in good shape as far as depth was concerned," Fouts said. "A lot of that optimism about their depth has taken a big hit early." Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum says injury left him believing he 'might be done with basketball' Giants will start first-round pick Jaxson Dart in Week 4, reports say Rudi Johnson, former Cincinnati Bengals Pro Bowl running back, dies, apparently by suicide, at 45 Yet much of the optimism inside the team in the preseason stemmed from what it might achieve while it is more comfortable under Harbaugh entering his second season. At past stops, his second year has been a launching point. While he was coaching at the University of San Diego, his team improved from 7-4 to 11-1 in his second season. In his first stint in the NFL, Harbaugh's San Francisco 49ers won two fewer games in their second season together but still took a step forward, reaching the Super Bowl. This season, the Chargers' defense has allowed the third-lowest passer rating and the fourth-fewest points; Daiyan Henley, a linebacker the team had high hopes for in the offseason, has lived up to expectations. And Harbaugh's staff has revived the confidence of former first-round pick receiver Quentin Johnson, whose 239 yards and three touchdowns are team highs. Being in the same offensive system for two consecutive years had given Herbert the opportunity for a "huge leap," Fouts said. Making that leap requires, of course, success not in September, but the playoffs. The Chargers haven't won a playoff game since 2018, and haven't won two in the same postseason since 2007. They hold, after just three weeks of the season, a sizable division lead. Their litmus test for legitimacy depends on whether they can hold on.
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