Something happened to the Chargers this weekend. And it's important to know that what happened to the Chargers would never happen to another team. (I guess it could, but we both know it never would.) You see, the Chargers got stuck in an elevator on Friday night. For multiple hours. In order to get out of said elevator, the Chargers had to literally crawl through a ceiling panel. I told you: this could happen to any other team in the NFL, but it never would. This was always the Chargers destiny.
— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) August 24, 2024
Thankfully, everyone's alright. Losing your starting QB for an unknown amount of time because he was stuck in an elevator would have been too Chargers even for the Chargers, so fortunately everyone avoided that. Outside of being one of the weirder push alerts to get on a Friday night, the elevator incident was a pleasant reminder of just how ... unique ... Jim Harbaugh is. When asked about the entire ordeal, he fired off more than a couple perfect Harbaughisms.
We just got another reminder that the AFC West is better with Jim Harbaugh in it
"You get in those situations, and it's a test of wills," Harbaugh told The Associated Press. "I was proud of each of the guys and the two women that were on that elevator. That's a win. You feel good about yourself. You were challenged. It was a test of will, and you pull it down, or pull it in ... And it was hot. As each person came off the elevator, sweating and some had the shirt off. Justin Herbert, his hair was a little wet. But his shirt was completely dry. That was another thing that blew me away."
"Justin Herbert's a leader. He was a rock," he added. "Kept everybody calm. And everybody kept their poise."
On one hand, very weird (yet standard) stuff from Harbaugh. On the other, making a note of how well your team leader does in tough situations through a comment about how little sweat made it to his shirt is peak Football Guy behavior. Herbert's shirt was dry! He's got the juice! I imagine that the people actually inside the broken elevator that was suspended dozens of floors above the ground didn't totally view it as a team-building exercise, but it's nice to hear that the Chargers aced the test anyway. Up next, an equally baffling test: the Raiders.