Where Chargers’ Jim Harbaugh ranks among all head coaches

Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh landed just shy of the top five NFL coaches in RotoPat’s 2026 rankings.

Harbaugh earned the No. 6 spot, per Patrick Daugherty of NBC Sports.

"Jim Harbaugh has coached six NFL seasons. He’s won fewer than 11 games once. He has never finished below .500. He has won with the San Diego Toreros, and the team that used to be the San Diego Chargers," Daugherty writes. "As is the case with many of Harbaugh’s all-time great compatriots, it can accurately be said he would do anything to win, right up to and including crossing the line. See the end of his time at Michigan.

"But if every Harbaugh and Belichick is sometimes willing to bend the rules for even the slightest of advantages, one thing they’re not always willing to do? Think outside the gilded box they’ve built for themselves. This was Harbaugh when he first arrived in L.A. His first hire on offense? Old friend Greg Roman. Although Harbaugh predictably won right off the bat, Roman was just as predictably stale as a play-caller."

Daugherty also revealed the Chargers' hiring of offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel puts them in contender territory.

He added: "So, then Harbaugh pulled off the hardest new trick for an old dog: He went outside his coaching tree. At first blush, Mike McDaniel isn’t just outside Harbaugh’s tree, but outside his planet. The old colliding with the new. Upon closer inspection, however, these are two gonzo thinkers who both tend to arrive at old time football principles. For Harbaugh, it’s toughness and fundamentals. For McDaniel, it’s execution. Paired together, they might finally find Harbaugh the Super Bowl ceiling that has eluded his annual playoff floor."

This article originally appeared on Chargers Wire: Where Chargers’ Jim Harbaugh ranks among all head coaches