Harbaugh’s football dreams still coming true

My question to Jim Harbaugh came to me when, to my surprise, he suddenly was squeezing past me in the Raiders press box. I had no idea Harbaugh was Oakland’s quarterback coach or why in the clumsy warren of the worst of all football stadiums I should find myself socially on the spot.

“When are you going to become a head coach?” I blurted, caring nothing about the answer.

“I’m working on it, Bernie,” Harbaugh said. “Believe me, I’m working on it.”

And off he went to wherever it is assistants go during games, a chance encounter I’ve allowed myself to recall as Harbaugh the coach rose from fringe to glory, lately as national champion. Not that I planted the idea that coaching was the way to go when Harbaugh had his brother and father to remind him, but still …

Work Harbaugh did, and here we are now, with Harbaugh some kind of twinkling treasure, the biggest prize in a box that included Bill Belichick, et. al. Harbaugh is a coach of coaches and savior of causes lost or misplaced, his hiring a “bolt of brilliance,” according to the local paper, welcomed to Los Angeles with glowing salutes, the man for a job not always noticed by most of the population.

Turn the Chargers into champions? Aren’t they still in San Diego?

I’ll admit I have always had a soft spot for Harbaugh, my second favorite Bears quarterback, and have on several occasions advised the Bears to make him their head coach. And yet the Bears have resisted any “bolt of brilliance,” insisting on hiring unformed interns while Harbaugh evolved out of reach, now lost to the Bears forever.

Is Harbaugh worth the hoopla? His record says he is, a winner at every level, though a Super Bowl loser, and to his brother no less. He is, again according to the LA media, “nationally celebrated,” maybe his most important credential for that town.

“He is football personified,” gushed Chargers owner Dean Spanos.

Of all the old Bears, including Mike Ditka, the most “celebrated” turns out to be the player I once referred to as “Thing One,” leaving “Thing Two” for Mike Tomczak, barely complimentary even when Harbaugh deserved praise.

I once asked him why, considering my general rudeness, he was nevertheless pleasant and grudge free. Did he not read what I wrote?

“Oh, yes” he said, “I read everything. You never know when you are going to learn something.” A man after a journalist’s heart.

He was a decent Bears quarterback, though a better one in Indianapolis. He became “Captain Comeback” in Indy and is in their Ring of Honor. After he had led the Colts over Joe Montana’s Kansas City Chiefs in a playoff back in the day, I huddled in the gaggle of press and he grabbed me by the shoulders, his face beaming, “We did it, Bernie,” he yelled. “We did it.”

Again, as with the coaching notion, I had nothing to do with it but will take whatever credit is offered. “I’m glad I could help,” I said.

Now 60, Harbaugh could have settled into his legend at Michigan, and probably should have done, reportedly turning down six years at $11.5 million per. While the five-year deal with the Chargers may be worth more ($18 million a year per reports), he will never have the worship or the forgiveness in LA he would have in Ann Arbor.

He must win in the uncertain and impatient world of the NFL even to reach the end of his contract. At Michigan all he would need to do is win the Big Ten and beat Ohio State every other year, a much easier chore, not to mention a recent habit.

When Harbaugh got a $3 million contract, the most ever paid a Bear at the time, I asked him if he thought he was worth so much money.

“For what they are paying me,” he said, “they can work me around the clock, 24 hours a day. They can even monitor my sleep to make sure I’m dreaming about football.”

As it turns out, that’s exactly what he was doing. Still is.