Prior to Monday Night's "Harbaugh Bowl" between Jim and John Harbaugh's teams, ESPN released a new interview special surrounding both the brothers and the Harbaugh family. Titled "The Harbaugh Brothers: Who's Got it Better Than Us?!", the 20 minute episode breaks down some of the Harbaugh family history as well as Jim's return to the NFL.
Jim Harbaugh opens the sit-down interview with ESPN's Adam Schefter by talking about his return to the NFL with the Chargers. It seems in part to be motivated by how Super Bowl 47 ended:
“Walking off the field at that Super Bowl, it was like, there will be another day," Harbaugh explained. "And then there wasn't for many years, and it looked like I wouldn't have a chance for another day. But by the grace of God: we're back in it and back on a team that has a chance."
Harbaugh has mentioned the Lombardi Trophy as a motivator for his return before: "There's no Lombardi Trophy in college football."
Later in the interview, Jim Harbaugh recounts a story of how the Ravens' Super Bowl celebration with his brother and father unfolded postgame. John Harbaugh asks his brother, "did you wake up and see him at the Ravens party?" The now Chargers' head coach then tells his version of the story:
Jim Harbaugh tells a very different version of what happened after the Niners-Ravens Super Bowl compared to what his brother and father remember. 😭
— Alex Insdorf (@alexinsdorf99) November 22, 2024
Courtesy of ESPN's "The Harbaugh Brothers". pic.twitter.com/yuCgybTBjx
"The conversation right after the game in the locker room with my dad was like 'I can only be as happy as my least happiest son. I just feel for you, and I'm just gonna go back to the hotel and go to sleep'. But I couldn't and I just kept thinking about it. So I turn on the television and 'oh there's my brother'. It was like an overpass."
The elder Harbaugh brother interrupts: "You know what? I know what happened now. You did fall asleep and you had a dream. And this is a dream. Cause there was no overpass! I was never-"
Jim Harbaugh continues: "He's up there on a podium-". Then John Harbaugh rebuts: "There was no podium! I was never on stage. I danced with Alison (his daughter) the whole night."
Jim Harbaugh, insisting that his story is true, continues to harp on the details. Eventually, per his recounting of events, John Harbaugh passed the trophy "on stage" to their father Jack Harbaugh.
Jack Harbaugh, the father of the brothers, vehemently denies Jim's claim that he went to the Ravens' postgame party: "Hell no I wasn't there! He made the story up!"
"I said 'Jim, it's a lie'" Jack Harbaugh recounts. Jim supposedly replied back in true Jim Harbaugh fashion with, "Well it's a hell of a story though, isn't it?"
Monday Night will mark the third time that the Harbaugh brothers have faced off as NFL head coaches on opposing teams. So far, John Harbaugh leads the series between the brothers 2-0. Chargers HC Jim Harbaugh has maintained that the team is more on his mind this week than the brotherly rivalry and the familial component. But time will tell if there is an added chip on his shoulder to win on game day.