{"id":686334,"date":"2026-01-18T12:57:43","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T12:57:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/686334\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T12:57:43","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T12:57:43","slug":"joe-hortiz-and-jim-harbaugh-promise-changes-are-coming-to-chargers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/686334\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Hortiz and Jim Harbaugh promise changes are coming to Chargers."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If the Chargers were a home, general manager Joe Hortiz<\/a> and coach Jim Harbaugh<\/a> are in agreement: its foundation is set in stone.<\/p>\n

The team is going to continue to build its offense around quarterback Justin Herbert,<\/a> that much is clear. But as the renovation begins \u2014 with Harbaugh parting ways with offensive coordinator Greg Roman and offensive line coach Mike Devlin earlier this week<\/a> \u2014 the Chargers coach said Thursday he knows that growth is necessary after back-to-back years of first-round playoff exits.<\/p>\n

Hortiz concurred with his longtime colleague.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what the offseason is for; time to look at things internally and look externally to see how you can get better,\u201d said Hortiz, who is wrapping up his second season with the organization alongside Harbaugh. \u201cYou\u2019ve got a nice structure, and that\u2019s what we have here. But we\u2019re going to keep renovating every room. And right when you get done with the bathrooms, you go to the kitchen. But you know what? You can\u2019t ignore the bathroom.\u201d Hortiz added: \u201cYou can\u2019t focus all your attention on one room and let the other ones fall too.\u201d<\/p>\n

The duo avoided placing blame on Herbert\u2019s trend of postseason woes, offensive line construction or Roman, a similar retread of talking points from last year\u2019s post-hoc presser of vague talking points.<\/p>\n

Hortiz made one thing clear: He won\u2019t consider any season a success until the Chargers claim their first Super Bowl title.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid we do Justin a disservice or whatever word you want to put it?\u201d Hortiz said. \u201cWe weren\u2019t good enough and our goal was to be good enough. I did [team owner] Dean [Spanos] a disservice. I did coach a disservice. We all did, all of us together. We want to win the Super Bowl, and so we\u2019ve got to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

That begins with finding a new \u201chead coach of the offense,\u201d Harbaugh said. Under Roman, the Chargers only scored one touchdown across two playoff games.<\/p>\n

\u201cA fresh start, a new direction,\u201d Harbaugh said of his reasoning to fire Roman. \u201cFresh start for [Roman], fresh start for our team, for our offense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harbaugh said he hopes to bring in a new offensive coordinator with a \u201cphysical\u201d identity. Hortiz adding that the job \u2014 especially coaching Herbert \u2014 is an \u201cattractive position,\u201d and that they\u2019ll plan on bringing in the best possible candidate to work alongside Harbaugh, casting a wide net.<\/p>\n

Chargers passing game coordinator Marcus Brady was first to interview for the offensive coordinator job, meeting with assistant general manager Chad Alexander, Hortiz and Harbaugh on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Outside of Roman and Devlin, Hortiz announced that linebackers coach NaVorro Bowman is departing the Chargers and coaching altogether. Bowman, who played for Harbaugh when he coached the San Francisco 49ers, is planning to help his son, Notre Dame High junior guard NaVorro Bowman Jr., navigate the college recruitment process, Hortiz said.<\/p>\n

Outside of coaching personnel changes \u2014 which could include defensive coordinator Jesse Minter departing for a head coaching job \u2014 Hortiz said he wants to use some of the more than $100 million in projected salary-cap space to retain some of the Chargers\u2019 pending free agents.<\/p>\n

Outside linebackers Odafe Oweh<\/a> and Khalil Mack<\/a> (who said this week that he\u2019d contemplate retirement for the second consecutive season), wide receiver Keenan Allen<\/a> and left guard Zion Johnson<\/a> are set to become free agents in March. Hortiz said he hadn\u2019t talked with wide receiver Quentin Johnston<\/a> and his representation about whether they would pick up his fifth-year option.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to be smart,\u201d Hortiz said. \u201cWe\u2019ll spend money, but we\u2019re going to spend money internally too, because there\u2019s a lot of guys we\u2019d like to have back.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If the Chargers were a home, general manager Joe Hortiz and coach Jim Harbaugh are in agreement: its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":686335,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2064],"tags":[100230,241,100229,7,194,46989,1436,1389,12741,1012,8805,1014,262,2444,2443,6,1551,12328,29904,185,4638],"class_list":["post-686334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-chargers","tag-charger-leadership","tag-chargers","tag-disservice","tag-football","tag-free-agent","tag-fresh-start","tag-harbaugh","tag-herbert","tag-hortiz","tag-jim-harbaugh","tag-job","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-chargers","tag-losangeles","tag-losangeleschargers","tag-nfl","tag-offense","tag-roman","tag-second-season","tag-team","tag-thursday"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115916219668900144","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/686335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}