The Harbaughs, set to lead their teams in the divisional-round games this weekend, are from a household where football is an affair and ritual for a well-known family.
Their father, Jack, who led Western Kentucky to a Division I-AA title and worked as an assistant coach for the late Bo Schembechler at Michigan, coached football for 46 years, ending his career in 2009 as running backs coach for Stanford. And now, his sons, John and Jim, are both coaches for NFL teams. It’s the brotherhood of defensive-minded coaches – through John’s and Jim’s incredible journey, a couple in which it has brought much fruition to both brothers – beginning when the Harbaughs turned mediocre franchises into consistent winners.
For what is a nice story, a singular story regarding a commitment that runs heavy in the family, the Harbaughs are defying every law of excellence in the rarest accomplishments of old-school philosophies. But when witnessing the coaching fraternity in its numerous aspects, this would be the ultimate perception of two coaches molded respectively by their father to compete at the highest level and breed self-motivation.
Tell me, are there two more interesting brothers of a cordial rivalry receiving all the attention for a potential family gathering in the Super Bowl that would suddenly become the Harbaugh Bowl?
It really is quite easy to realize that they are unique in their own way, even when they are both defensive-minded gurus with the emphasis of demanding toughness. That’s the type of game the Harbaughs reiterate, day by day, week by week in a grueling, tedious 16-game regular season, and now as the playoffs are under way, both Baltimore and San Francisco are ready to fiercely decapitate heads of opposing players. With the Harbaughs, we’ve seen the only brother head coaching combination in NFL history – to examine the clarity of two siblings in control of teams that have mirror images of them specifically.
The Harbaughs, after an apprenticeship from growing up and watching their father as they were also taught about football from Schembechler, have assembled a fruitful framework and have been successful to produce a pair of smash-mouth, hard-nosed teams.
It is fine to assume that the Ravens have earned a reputation as one of the stingiest and toughest defenses in the league, as well as the 49ers have established themselves as one of the teams with marquee defenders, groomed and obliged to play an aggressive style defense.
It’s now a good time for Jim to tell the world that Patrick Willis and NaVarro Bowman, one of the supreme middle linebacker tag-teams in the league, have stepped it up since his arrival. The rest of the progress from this recent prosperity that materialized in his rookie season is from Jim himself, a fiery leader with much vehemence and enthusiasm, which modifies the personality of the much-respected franchise.
If and when Jim wins a Super Bowl title, he might want to take Willis and Bowman with him to ESPY award appearances or even a foreseeable Hall of Fame ceremony years from now. For this was a sensational run, positioning themselves to contend in the playoff picture.
Ready for some hard-hitting football?
You should be.
So there he is, John, a pioneer in Baltimore to adore and praise for finishing 12-4, 6-0 in the AFC North with the No. 2 seed in the AFC. And there he is, more impressively so – Jim, a fixture for renovating much hope in the Bay Area when he led San Francisco to a 13-3 record and the No. 2 seed in the NFC in only his first year as head coach, making the most of his brother’s modus operandi.
That’s what happens when a team is fully built with muscular and bullish defenders. For the Ravens, while ferocious linebacker Ray Lewis – a 36-year-old veteran – is the centerpiece of a stingy defense, undaunted linebacker Terrell Suggs is incredible on his pass-rush abilities in one of the dynamic run-stopping defenses.
It’s possible, like when the Harbaughs met for a sibling match that wasn’t so brotherly loving on Thanksgiving night after big brother beat little brother in what was proclaimed as the Harbaugh Bowl, that we can see an encore of this event in a few more weeks.
It’s hard-hitting, turf-pounding, in-your-face, tough-minded football from the Harbaughs every time – the type of football fans are engrossed in around the world. John, the oldest by two years, is 49, and Jim recently turned 48. They were born 15 months apart and have bond closely as brothers.
And what was Jim doing when he called John?
He believes in his brother, and had phoned him often seeking advice about NFL coaching after he accepted the 49ers’ job, realizing that John had experience and much success during his tenure with the Ravens, where he has spent years guiding the team into the playoffs and building a winning product that appeased fans and even urged Lewis to stay in Baltimore.
When describing John and his staff, Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco may not survive in the NFL, simply for leading a passing-drive at the right possible time and completing just enough passes to win, bailed out by his monstrous defense.
It might have been their childhood experiences that prepared and sharpened them for this career path, growing up in the Midwest and around the game to incredibly take after their father.
It runs in the family, obviously.
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