Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert has been a divisive figure among the NFL media for years, but none more so than this season.
ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky intervened, defending his favoritism towards Herbert, and newly minted Nick Wright and Steven Ruiz colleagues at Fox Sports, got into a fight over Herbert the following week.
Through it all, Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh has done his best to defend Herbert, who he considers the best quarterback in human history. But now the Chargers are 0-4, and Herbert has never been worse, so Harbaugh’s exuberant optimism becomes impossible to ignore.
Enter Kris Rhim, the Los Angeles Chargers beat the ESPN reporter.
Video of the exchange, via @chargers https://t.co/shK0n4XniE
– Kris Rhim (@krisrhim1) October 5, 2026
“Jim, when you talk about ‘he’s a warrior’ and courageous, part of that comes from (Herbert) taking a merciless hit,” Rhim said during Harbaugh’s news conference Monday. “I don’t know if it’s the group in front of him, his protection, what’s going on. But when you came here your mission was to protect him… but 2.5 years later, like you said, he still has to be a superhero for you to have a chance of winning the game. Why?”
Harbaugh didn’t take Rhim’s question kindly, staring into space.
“Uh,” Harbaugh said, scrunching his face. “Yeah, I don’t know. It seems more like an insult than a question. But that’s how you look at it. I say that, yes, that’s the kind of competitor he is. I’ve never seen him flinch. I’ve never seen him shaken. He’s an incredible inspiration, and that’s what we do.”
Harbaugh added that he has “optimism” and “hope” because he sees the whole team feeding off of Herbert’s attitude.
Rhim clarified that “it wasn’t an insult; I was just asking you,” explaining that Herbert is in his third straight season of being hit relentlessly. “I was just asking you why,” Rhim said.
Harbaugh, visibly annoyed now, said he had already answered the question.
Rhim was unfazed by Harbaugh’s prickly response and took to TikTok to defend his question and his years-long reporting on the Harbaugh-led Chargers.
@kris.rhimWhy Jim Harbaugh said my question was insulting on Monday.♬ original sound – Kris Rhim
On Twitter (or Rhim also had time for this anonymous troll, writing: “I was elite back then, they say something between Adrian Peterson and Barry Sanders, a young retiree (7 years). I left the game before he left me.”
I was elite at the time, they say between Adrian Peterson and Barry Sanders, a young retiree (7 years old).
I left the game before it left me https://t.co/GqEGrgyban
— Kris Rhim (@krisrhim1) October 6, 2026
Elite lags aside, Rhim had every right as a journalist to ask Harbaugh if he hadn’t kept his 2024 promises.
Gn sports
