Jim Harbaugh

Caleb Williams has more raw talent; Harbaugh has the résumé. Harbaugh threw for 26,288 yards and 129 touchdowns, dragged the mid-’90s Colts to an AFC title game, and became the prototype “coach on the field.” Williams has the arm and off-script magic Harbaugh never did, but until he wins big in January, he’s chasing a guy who already proved he can survive NFL shrapnel.

No, Jim Harbaugh is not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was a solid, long-term starter — 26,288 passing yards, 129 touchdowns, a Comeback Player of the Year, and a near-Super Bowl trip as a coach — but Canton is reserved for guys who bent eras to their will. Harbaugh was more “glue guy of the ‘90s” than bronze-bust headliner.

In 2026, Jim Harbaugh is back in the NFL grind as head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, fresh off that national title run at Michigan. He’s trying to do for Justin Herbert what he once did for Andrew Luck and Colin Kaepernick: sharpen the edges, win with toughness and structure, and make L.A. feel like Ann Arbor West, minus the marching band and 19-degree kickoffs.

Drop ’90s Jim Harbaugh into today’s NFL and he’d be Ryan Tannehill with a political science minor. Efficient, tough, mobile enough, living on play-action and bootlegs, helped by rules that baby quarterbacks and promote timing routes. His 58.8% career completion mark would climb in modern schemes, but he’d still be more steady craftsman than fireworks show. You win with him; you don’t build billboards around him.

Jim McMahon is the better Bears quarterback; Harbaugh is the better long-haul pro. McMahon, at #45.04 on HeyTC’s list, gave Chicago its swagger and a Lombardi, even if his body broke down. Harbaugh, down at #28.93, was steadier, less volcanic, more game-manager-plus. McMahon is the icon; Harbaugh is the guy you trust in December when the wind’s howling off the lake.