The absolute worst-case scenario happened last night when news broke that the Los Angeles Chargers hired Jim Harbaugh. The Denver Broncos need to take action now. Not only has Harbaugh had success with every single coaching stop he's made, but he's had immediate success, too. Most notably, he won the college football national championship with Michigan this year.
He also appeared in a Super Bowl when he was the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers. And that SB appearance was in his second year as HC of the team. Folks, Jim Harbaugh is an excellent football coach who is going to make the Los Angeles Chargers better overnight. The Denver Broncos are no longer going to be able to walk all over the Chargers like they have been able to do for years.
In fact, the Chargers with Harbaugh might already be a better team than the Denver Broncos. In response to this hiring, the Broncos must do these three things this offseason.
1. Fix the pass rush and run defense
During his first three seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, his offenses ranked 11th in points scored each year. This was led by an elite rushing attack, which ranked 8th, 4th, and 3rd in yards from 2011-2013. With Harbaugh having Justin Herbert as his QB now, he'll surely still look to feature a tough rushing attack, but he'll also not hesitate to build an offense that can air it out too.
While I think Justin Herbert is a massively overrated QB, he has shown the ability to be a prolific passer. Jim Harbaugh is going to try and feature an offense that can kill teams through the air and on the ground. In response to that, the Denver Broncos must fix their second-worst run defense from 2023 and improve on their inconsistent pass rush.
If the Broncos can win at the line of scrimmage against LA, it'll be hard for the Chargers to beat Denver. Somehow acquiring a top-tier pass rusher and adding some space-eaters on the interior of the defense is going to counteract the offense that Jim Harbaugh wants to run.