INGLEWOOD — Jim Harbaugh and his brother, John, were absolutely right. It wasn’t about them.
It was about a battering ram by the name of Derrick Henry.
Harbaugh Bowl III went to John and the Baltimore Ravens because Jim and the Chargers couldn’t stop Henry, a 6-foot-3, 247-pound running back. Henry rushed for 140 yards on 24 carries and the Ravens ended the Chargers’ four-game winning streak with a 30-23 victory on Monday night at SoFi Stadium.
The third victory for John over Jim was even in so many ways, but Henry was the X-factor, the one player the Chargers could not counter. Henry didn’t score a touchdown, but he set up the Ravens’ scores with his punishing runs, often dragging Chargers tacklers along with him.
Henry, the NFL’s second-leading rusher, averaged 5.8 yards per carry.
The Chargers were within one score midway through the fourth quarter, but Justice Hill sealed the deal for Baltimore with a 51-yard touchdown run that made it 30-16 after Justin Tucker’s extra point. It was the most points the Chargers had given up in a game under Harbaugh.
Chargers running back Gus Edwards’ 1-yard touchdown run with 46 seconds left accounted for the final score before the Ravens recovered an onside kick.
The Harbaughs met on the field roughly an hour before kickoff on “Monday Night Football.” They weren’t alone for long, though, a gaggle of photographers drew near, snapping away as the sons of Jack and Jackie Harbaugh chatted about who knows what before the Chargers and Ravens faced off.
It was likely the last quiet moment either coach would have until the end of the game.
Jim and the Chargers trailed John and the Ravens 14-13 by halftime, and it seemed fitting. The teams traded big plays and electric scoring drives right through the final seconds of the half, with Cameron Dicker pulling the Chargers within a point at the break with a 52-yard field goal as time expired.
The Chargers struggled to contain Henry, which was to be expected. The Ravens struggled to contain Chargers running back J.K. Dobbins, which wasn’t expected. Dobbins rushed for 40 yards on six carries before he left the game because of a knee injury late in the second quarter and was later ruled out of the game.
Quarterbacks Justin Herbert of the Chargers and Lamar Jackson of the Ravens each ran for a touchdown. Herbert scrambled for a 5-yard score in the first quarter, hugging the ball tight to his chest in celebration. Jackson sprinted around the left end for a 10-yard touchdown in the second.
Dicker gave the Chargers a 10-0 lead with a 42-yard field goal, but Jackson rallied the Ravens with his touchdown run and then a 40-yard scoring pass to Rashod Bateman that gave Baltimore a 14-10 lead with 24 seconds left in the half. The four-point advantage lasted exactly 24 seconds.
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Herbert drove the Chargers into field goal range and Dicker converted from 52 yards to cut their deficit to 14-13 at halftime. Herbert almost put the Chargers ahead, but overthrew a streaking Joshua Palmer on a second-and-2 play from his own 38-yard line. Herbert completed his next two passes, though.
The teams traded field goals in the third quarter, with Tucker hitting from 45 yards and Dicker converting for the second time from 52 yards to bring the Chargers within 17-16 with 4:08 remaining in the quarter. Dicker made his seventh kick of 50 yards or more in eight attempts this season.
Jackson then hit tight end Mark Andrews for a 6-yard touchdown. After a two-point conversion pass fell incomplete, the Ravens led 23-16 with 12:32 remaining in the game. Jackson’s pass to Andrews was initially ruled incomplete, but after the officials put their heads together, they got the call right.
More to come on this story.