"Harbaugh began speaking to the team about its NFC West rivals. The Seattle Seahawks were at an amusement park, Harbaugh told the team. The St. Louis Rams and Arizona Cardinals were also enjoying a day off, he said. 'Guess what the 49ers are going to do today?' Harbaugh asked. They would practice -- intensely. At least a hundred plays: 'Everybody else takes breaks, the 49ers don't,' Harbaugh said. 'Everybody was kind of pissed that day,' Walker said while laughing."
"This was the Jim Harbaugh way: working his players to the brink of exhaustion and then some. The method was effective -- until it infuriated everyone. But Harbaugh ushered in a period of renaissance for the 49ers; that season, San Francisco reached Super Bowl XLVII. 'There won't be any magic formulas,' Harbaugh promised Los Angeles Chargers fans at his introductory news conference in 2024. 'The only ones that I know are just good, old-fashioned hard work.'"
Harbaugh built a reputation for extreme, relentless practices that pushed players to exhaustion, exemplified by a 2012 session of at least a hundred plays. That intense approach provoked frustration among players but also fueled a team renaissance that reached Super Bowl XLVII. Harbaugh promised no magic formulas at his 2024 Chargers introduction, emphasizing hard work. Since moving to the Chargers, his style has evolved: wardrobe changes and notably lighter training-camp practices reflect a shift away from game-day intensity toward a more conservative, player-preservation approach as he adapts to a new roster and context.
Read at ESPN.com
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