DENVER — After briefly leaving within the first quarter of Sunday’s win towards the Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh advised reporters that he has atrial flutter, a kind of arrhythmia that causes the guts to beat at an abnormally excessive charge, and {that a} flare-up made him search medical consideration.
Harbaugh went to the locker room, the place paramedics handled him. He had an electrocardiogram scan, and ultimately, they obtained his coronary heart again to a traditional rhythm. Harbaugh returned later within the first quarter and coached the rest of the sport.
He mentioned he has had a flare-up in a recreation earlier than. He mentioned that in 2012, when he was teaching the San Francisco 49ers in a recreation towards the Chicago Bears on “Monday Evening Soccer,” he felt an irregular heartbeat however completed teaching the sport and noticed medical doctors afterward.
Docs weren’t capable of get Harbaugh’s coronary heart again to a daily rhythm, so he had an ablation, which is a process that makes use of warmth or chilly to destroy coronary heart tissue that’s inflicting an irregular heartbeat. Harbaugh mentioned he additionally had an ablation in 1999.
“2-0 with an arrhythmia,” Harbaugh joked.
Whereas he was out, defensive coordinator Jesse Minter was the interim head coach, however many gamers did not even know that Harbaugh was absent through the recreation or that he had a difficulty along with his coronary heart.
Quarterback Justin Herbert discovered when a reporter requested him in regards to the state of affairs throughout his postgame information convention.
“He is powerful,” Herbert mentioned. “He did a very good job of hiding that then as a result of I used to be unaware of it. They did a very good job of holding calm. I hope he is OK. Is he all proper?”
Harbaugh mentioned he felt discomfort Saturday evening however did not suppose a lot of it. Then throughout pregame warmups, he realized his coronary heart was beating irregularly, and he ultimately notified the coaching workers within the first quarter. He did not say whether or not he would have one other ablation however famous that the timing of his others is on par with having one now.
“I have never felt it since 2012,” Harbaugh mentioned. “I imply, it hasn’t occurred, however the one in ’99, 13 years later, I needed to have the process executed once more, and so I figured I used to be getting near the 13-year mark. I used to be going to want one other one sooner or later.”
Harbaugh’s brother John, coach of the Baltimore Ravens, was in the midst of his information convention after the Ravens’ win over the Washington Commanders however ended it abruptly to verify on Jim. Chargers normal supervisor Joe Hortiz reached out to John to let him know that medical doctors had cleared Jim and he was OK.
The Chargers beat the Broncos 23-16 to enhance to 3-2.