John Harbaugh on facing his brother Jim: ‘There is a pride part of it’

When the NFL schedule was released last Wednesday, it was immediately dissected for the best storylines and matchups ahead of the 2024 season. Highlighted by new Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh taking on his brother John and the Baltimore Ravens in LA during Week 12.

This won’t be the first dual between the Harbaugh brothers, but the first in a long time after Jim spent the past nine seasons at Michigan following a four-year tenure with the San Francisco 49ers.

John Harbaugh was recently a guest on The Lounge and opened up about the highly anticipated matchup with his brother this upcoming season. Unafraid to admit to the high stakes and bragging rights (or lack thereof) on the line.

“It’s funny, that’ll definitely be the storyline. I’m sure people will be talking about that,” Harbaugh said referring to bragging rights. “But it’s such an emotional thing, it runs so much deeper than that in real life to be honest. It’s so meaningful, we both root for each other, we both have each other’s back all the time, and yet we’re competing against each other. And yeah, there is a pride part of it. You do want to win.”

John is undefeated against his brother at the NFL level, most notably defeating Jim’s 49ers team in Super Bowl XLVII. But he made it clear that even though a win against the Chargers this season would mean a lot personally, it’d be much bigger than just him and his brother.

“But not just for you, for your guys, for the organization, for the standings, I mean there’s so much at stake. Our guys are even talking about it a little bit in the cafeteria here and there,” Harbaugh revealed. “But these things live on, these are real-life moments that there’s a winner and a loser in some of these games like that and you kind of never forget these things. So it’s not so much as yeah, who’s gonna have bragging rights? That kind of understates how it really works.”

Things will be highly competitive between the Harbaugh brothers once Week 12 rolls around. But overall, Harbaugh is excited to have his brother back coaching at the NFL level. Especially when it comes to the league’s annual head coaches and owner’s meetings in March.

“I like it because it’s my guy, you know what I mean?” Harbaugh asked. “There’s good relationships with the coaches around the league, some more than others and all that. But kind of everybody’s the enemy, and Jim will be the enemy along with his team when we play him. But the rest of the time he’s my brother.”

“So it’s nice to have someone that I can call, or talk to about rules, or meetings, or know that I’ve got someone to go to lunch with. Someone that will hang out with me at the meetings. I’ve had a couple meetings where like no one would talk to me, I’m like why? What’s wrong with me? Jim still likes me so everything’s okay.”

The bond between the Harbaugh brothers and the entire family has always been close and apparent. Making Week 12 even more intriguing as Jim will attempt to revive the Los Angeles Chargers and John will look to maintain Baltimore’s recent success.