Jim Harbaugh
Credit: Los Angeles Chargers
Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert has been a divisive figure amongst NFL media for years, but none more than this season.
ESPN’s Dan Orlovskystepped in it, defending his Herbert favoritism, and Nick Wright and Steven Ruiz, newly mintedcolleagues at Fox Sports, got into a catfight about Herbert the following week.
Through it all, Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh has gone above and beyond to defend Herbert, whom he believes is the best quarterback in human history. But now the Chargers are 0-4, and Herbert has never looked worse, so Harbaugh’s exuberant optimism is becoming impossible to ignore.
Enter Kris Rhim, Los Angeles Chargers beat reporter for ESPN.
Video of the exchange, via @chargers https://t.co/shK0n4XniE
— Kris Rhim (@krisrhim1) October 5, 2026
“Jim, when you talk about ‘he’s a warrior’ and gritty, part of that is just [Herbert] taking a ruthless beating,” Rhim said at Harbaugh’s Monday press conference. “I don’t know if it’s the group in front of him, his protection, what’s going on. But when you came here, your charge was to get him protected […] but 2.5 years later, like you said, he still has to be a superhero for you guys to have a chance to win the game. Why is that?”
Harbaugh didn’t take Rhim’s question kindly, looking off into space.
“Um,” Harbaugh said while scrunching his face. “Yeah, I don’t know. That just sounds more like an insult than it does a question. But that’s the way you look at it. I’m saying that, yeah, it’s the kind of competitor that he is. I’ve never seen him flinch. I’ve never seen him rattled. He’s an amazing inspiration, and that’s what we do.”
Harbaugh added that he has “optimism” and “hope” because he sees the entire team feed off of Herbert’s attitude.
Rhim clarified that “it wasn’t an insult; I was just asking you,” explaining that Herbert is in his third straight season of getting hit relentlessly. “I was just asking you why,” Rhim said.
Harbaugh, visibly annoyed by now, said that he already answered the question.
Rhim wasn’t fazed by Harbaugh’s prickly response and took to TikTok to defend his question and his years-long reporting on the Harbaugh-led Chargers.
Why Jim Harbaugh said my question was insulting Monday.
Over on Twitter (or X, begrudgingly), a user went after Rhim for a “stupid a** condescending question” and claimed Rhim “doesn’t know ball.” Rhim had time for this anonymous troll, too, writing, “I was elite back in the day, they say something between Adrian Peterson and Barry Sanders, retired young (7 years old). Left the game before it left me.”
I was elite back in the day, they say something between Adrian Peterson and Barry Sanders, retired young (7 years old).
Left the game before it left me https://t.co/GqEGrgyban
— Kris Rhim (@krisrhim1) October 6, 2026
Elite trolling aside, Rhim was well within his rights as a beat reporter to ask Harbaugh about falling short of what he promised in 2024.