Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh is known for being an intense guy.
But he proverbial intensity nearly put him in the hospital during yesterday’s game against their rival Denver Broncos.
Harbaugh left the sidelines during the first quarter of yesterday’s game versus the Broncos for what he said was a mild heart issue.
According to ESPN report, Harbaugh told reporters that he has atrial flutter, a type of arrhythmia that causes the heart to beat at an abnormally high rate, and that a flare-up made him seek medical attention.
Harbaugh went to the locker room, where paramedics treated him. He had an electrocardiogram scan, and eventually, they got his heart back to a normal rhythm.
Harbaugh returned later in the first quarter and coached the remainder of the game.
Defensive coordinator Jesse Minter was the interim head coach during Harbaugh’s brief absence, but many players didn’t even know that Harbaugh was absent during the game or that he had an issue with his heart.
Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert found out when a reporter asked him about the situation during his postgame news conference.
“He’s tough,” Herbert said. “He did a really good job of hiding that then because I was unaware of it. They did a good job of keeping calm. I hope he’s OK. Is he all right?”
Harbaugh’s brother John, the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, was in the middle of his news conference after the Ravens’ win over the Washington Commanders but ended it abruptly to check on his brother.
According to Harbaugh, this isn’t the first time he has had a flare-up in a game before.
In 2012, when he was coaching the San Francisco 49ers in a game against the Chicago Bears on “Monday Night Football,” he felt an irregular heartbeat but finished coaching the game and saw doctors afterward.
Doctors weren’t able to get Harbaugh’s heart back to a regular rhythm, so he had an ablation, which is a procedure that uses heat or cold to destroy heart tissue that is causing an irregular heartbeat. Harbaugh said he also had an ablation in 1999.
“2-0 with an arrhythmia,” Harbaugh joked.