The Harbaugh perennial

 Heard someone this week daydreaming about Jim Harbaugh being the next Bears coach, and saw a clutch of stories from various news sources saying there were a pile of NFL teams interested in hiring the Michigan coach, especially the Raiders.

Obviously it must be January again, I thought.

Because, listen, few things are hardier perennials than the Jim Harbaugh Courting Dance, which happens every year at this time when there are NFL teams looking for a new coach. Harbaugh's name always goes in the speculative hopper when that happens, because he was once an NFL coach himself and a successful one, having gotten the 49ers to the Super Bowl some years back.

The buzz is louder this time only because Harbaugh had a bang-up year at UM, beating Ohio State for the first time, winning the Big Ten for the first time and making the College Football Playoff for the first time.

Because of all that, lots of folks seem to think now would be the perfect time for him to grab the money and run back to the NFL. The Blob, of course, thinks differently.

The Blob thinks if there were ever a time when Harbaugh would have been most tempted to make the leap back to the pros, it would have been last year. 

Last year, see, was Harbaugh's eighth in Ann Arbor, and the evidence suggested he'd wasted those eight years. The Wolverines had lost to Michigan State again, and Penn State, and been crushed by Wisconsin. They'd even lost to Indiana, for heaven's sake.

Overall, they'd gone 2-4 in the Covid-shortened season. It was only their fourth losing season in 53 years.

Now?

Yes, now Harbaugh's a hotter commodity than ever. But he's also, finally, got the Michigan program where he wants it. Why leave Ann Arbor when Michigan is finally Michigan again?

The obvious answer, of course, is it's the NFL and it's the money, but every team looking for a coach right now is looking for a coach because it's a dumpster fire. A head coach in the NFL is usually just component in a rebuild. Unless the Raiders or whoever would make Harbaugh both coach and de facto GM -- and that's definitely possible -- it takes savvy ownership and an even more savvy front office to turn such an unwieldy vessel as an NFL franchise.

So where's the upside?

Look. The Blob has been dead wrong on these matters more times than not. It's used to wiping egg off its face when it declares so-and-so isn't going anywhere, and then so-and-so goes somewhere. And it never, ever, ever, learns from its mistakes.

And so remember where you heard this: Jim Harbaugh isn't going anywhere.

Don't forget to bring the eggs.