Jim Harbaugh rescued himself and the Indianapolis Colts from oblivion last season. This year, he is saving the entire NFL.
In a sport that needs ambassadors after an off-season of negative role modeling, Harbaugh is as refreshing and sincere a personality as the league has to offer.
After he talked for a half-hour on a national teleconference call on Wednesday, he had to be cut off in midsentence because somebody else was waiting on the line. Harbaugh was talking about having fun playing in the end zone after high school games when he was privileged enough to grow up a coach’s kid. He could have talked for another half-hour. Unlike so many of his colleagues, there was no meeting to run off to, no lunch to eat, no questions to deflect, no reason to hide his feelings or opinions.
After he produced yet another comeback to beat the Cowboys in Dallas last Sunday, he was questioned about his celebration bordering on taunting. It was news to him.
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“I saw a replay and I’m out there running on the field and jumping and high-fiving everybody and kind of acting like an idiot for about 30 seconds. I was just celebrating,” Harbaugh said.
The celebration continues Monday night when Harbaugh’s Colts take on the Miami Dolphins. It’s a celebration in which the whole country can share, with the possible exception of Chicago. It is the fourth Monday night game of the season and fourth time a present or former Bears quarterback has played–Erik Kramer in the opener, followed by the Packers’ Jim McMahon, the Steelers’ Mike Tomczak and now Harbaugh. It is a reminder of what was, is, and might have been.
Harbaugh said he has no time to enjoy how much the Bears are struggling on offense, although he’s too honest to deny he hasn’t noticed. He still makes comparisons.
“I play on a team that believes in itself and I believe in this team. I believe in myself and this team believes in me,” Harbaugh said.
It is “not the same feeling” he had in Chicago.
“Like in the Dallas game,” he said, “throwing the interception and fumbling and we get behind by 18 points, I can come to the sideline and look every guy in the eye and to a man they know I’m going to go back out there and give it everything I have and we’re going to be all right.”
The Dolphins’ game will remind Harbaugh of when that feeling first came to shape his Colts’ experience. Last Oct. 8, the Colts came from 21 down to beat the Dolphins in overtime.
“We were down seven, and I scrambled on fourth down and dislocated a finger on my left hand. I was coming to the sidelines and said, `I don’t know if I can go; I can’t get this finger back in.’ (Fullback) Roosevelt Potts came up to me and said, `You’re not coming out. This is your game. You’re going to win this game. Get back in there.’
“When you get that kind of support and confidence from teammates, as a quarterback that does so much for you,” Harbaugh said.
He said he never had that feeling with the Dave Wannstedt Bears in 1993. It was a transition time when Wannstedt himself marveled at the lack of talent surrounding Harbaugh.
“If you’re not in a system you’re comfortable in with good players around, a guy doesn’t really have much of a chance,” Harbaugh said. “Steve Young is an example. In Tampa, he struggled. With the 49ers, a great organization, Jerry Rice, and a good defense can make a quarterback look a whole lot better.”
If Harbaugh weren’t so earnest and convincing when he talks about teamwork and courage and love of the game and serving as an example to his 2-week-old son, he would sound like a human cliche. He’s simply a football player having fun, and anybody who thinks he has an agenda doesn’t see him patiently signing autographs after practice for anybody who asks.
“We believe in ourselves, not that we’re not going to lose, but we believe we’re never going to quit no matter what happens,” Harbaugh said. “If we get behind, we’ll still play with courage. That’s what I love about this team. Andrew Jackson said one man with courage is a majority, but we have 53. That’s a tough combination to beat.
“It’s just so much different when you have the support of your team and coach, when they truly believe in you and you can look in their eyes and they’re looking back like they know you’re going to get the job done and they’re going to fight for you no matter what.”
When the Bears released Harbaugh after one year with Wannstedt, he said he told friends who didn’t follow football he had been picked up by the Indianapolis Colts.
“Some friends asked, `Indianapolis Colts? What league is that?’ ” Harbaugh recalled, chuckling. “I said, `It’s the NFL.’
“There has been a feeling that maybe the Colts didn’t have an identity.”