Chargers’ Jim Harbaugh reveals cardiologist’s ‘direct quote’ after heart scare

Following a Week 5 bye, one would’ve thought that the Los Angeles Chargers would come into their Week 6 matchup with the Denver Broncos well-rested and much healthier than they were prior. For the players on the field, that proved to be true. But for the main man on the Chargers sideline, this wasn’t the case.

Jim Harbaugh missed a portion of the Chargers’ Week 6 win over the Denver Broncos due to an arrhythmia (an irregular heartbeat). It’s a serious scare any time the issue at hand is one that deals with the heart, but Harbaugh has since noted that this is the third time in his life he’s dealt with an arrhythmia, and that each time he’s been around a team’s medical staff during the incident. Fortunately, during his media availability on Wednesday, Harbaugh provided an optimistic update on his health.

“Just talked to the cardiologist before I came in here,” Harbaugh said, per Omar Navarro and Eric Smith of Chargers.com . “Got some test results back. ‘The heart of an athlete’ is a direct quote from my cardiologist. So, that made me feel good.”

Despite the fact that Jim Harbaugh is now 60 years old, it makes sense that he would have “a heart of an athlete.” Years before Harbaugh began crafting his legacy as an iconic head coach in both the NFL and the NCAA, he had a 14-year playing career in which he accumulated a 66-74 record, throwing for 26,288 yards and 129 touchdowns.

Jim Harbaugh elaborated that the cardiologist told him that the stress test came back “incredible” and that his heart actually got stronger as it became more stressed. Despite the encouraging results, Harbaugh added that he’d make adjustments to his lifestyle to prevent an incident like this, or something worse, from happening again.

“I’m coachable. I don’t think there’s anybody anywhere that can say Jim Harbaugh wasn’t coachable,” Harbaugh said. “I don’t think anybody has ever said that. I approach listening to the doctors as the same as listening to one of my coaches. I’ll probably do some things. Probably less Diet Coke and more water, some other things like that. Attacking the oatmeal in the morning, doing some stuff, trying to keep up.”

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