It turns out head coach Zac Taylor isn't the only Bengal with an autographed photo of Jim Harbaugh hanging somewhere in the past.
"I've probably got it somewhere in the house," muses Duke Tobin this week as the director of player personnel pondered the matchup. "Maybe in a box."
Jordan Kovacs, the first-year safeties coach who played in the NFL box before calling Harbaugh, is in a few team photos with him where they're both wearing Michigan blue. In the first one, Kovacs is one of Harbaugh's interns. In the second, he is one of his graduate assistants.
"He was the first call I made when I decided to get into coaching," Kovacs says this week as he gets ready for the running game he knows that's coming. "He's always been a mentor to me."
In a monstrous game for their AFC playoff hopes, the 4-6 Bengals see another edition of Harbaugh's career as a football influencer Sunday night (8:20-Cincinnati's Channel 5) in Los Angeles.
During his first season coaching the Chargers' star-crossed franchise that has spent the 2020s blowing games they should have won, Harbaugh has got them winning enough of those that got away to be 6-3 with his signature throwback style he used to mold his teams at Stanford and the 49ers, and most recently at Michigan.
If want to know what kind of demolition derby the Bengals face Sunday, just go back to the third game of Harbaugh's NFL coaching career with the 49ers. The visit to Paycor Stadium in 2011 was not only his first road game, but also the first home game for the Bengals rookie wide receiver-quarterback tandem of A.J. Green and Andy Dalton.
San Francisco's 13-8 victory is believed to be the only NFL game decided by that bloody score.
"His teams take on his personality," Kovacs says. "Physical. Toughness. Run the football. Play good defense. He's always been that way."
That's what drew the late scouting guru Bill Tobin to Harbaugh as a player. Tobin, architect of the legendary 1985 Bears before he worked with his son at the Bengals, drafted Harbaugh, a blue-collar Big Ten winning quarterback at Michigan, in the 1987 first round and a lifetime bond was formed.
Whenever Bill Tobin would look to draw an analogy or a comparison and he was looking for the gold standard, he would end the debate with, "Like Harbaugh."
Duke Tobin worked a few of the Bears camps early in Harbaugh's career before he went off to college and that's probably when the photo was snapped.
"He was always just a regular guy," Tobin says.
If the Bengals seem attracted to the most recent vintage of Michigan players, such as first- and second-rounders Dax Hill, DJ Turner and Kris Jenkins Jr., in the last three drafts, it's not a coincidence.
"Great football family. Made of all the right things," Duke Tobin says. "My dad valued toughness. Playing the game with physicality and smarts. Leaving it all out there for the team on the field. That's the kind of stuff that resonated with my dad."
If Bill Tobin was a mentor for Harbaugh, Harbaugh has been there for Kovacs. He still remembers the counsel Harbaugh gave him his first day on the job as an intern for him after he played three seasons in the NFL.
"You're a former player. You've played a lot of football. You always draw on those experiences whether you're talking about scheme or technique," Kovacs says. "Put yourself in their shoes."
Kovacs heard it, but he didn't really know what Harbaugh meant until the next week when he was running an individual drill. There he was, putting himself in their shoes.
"Seeing it through their eyes," Kovacs says. "Always try to draw from experiences good and bad. The fundamentals, but also off the field. It's always about putting yourself in their shoes. That was his message early on to me."
IN THE ZONE
Pretty cut and dried Sunday night for Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, son of long-time University of Cincinnati head coach Rick Minter and one of the hot young minds in the game at age 41.
That zone defense the Chargers use more than 80% of the time has allowed a league-low 13.1 points per game. They are trying to be the first team since the 1990 New York Giants to allow 20 points or fewer in each of its first ten games and they now face a quarterback and receiver that chew up zones.
A total of 81% of Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase’s league-leading 981 yards come against zone, according to the NFL's Next Gen Stats. Quarterback Joe Burrow is fifth in yards per attempt and has the fourth-highest passer rating against two-high safety looks that the Chargers use the second most of any defense in the league.
Chase tips his hat to first-year offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher for moving him around so much and putting him in the slot more frequently. It wasn't a criticism of Brian Callahan, the old OC who is now the Titans head coach. Chase says it was more out of necessity when slot receiver Tyler Boyd followed Callahan to Tennessee.
Boyd, another zone killer, has appeared to be bequeath many of those routes to Chase.
"A good portion," Burrow said. "He has really taken strides working in the slot this year on choice routes, zone coverage, he's really taken ownership of that. That's exciting to see because that just adds another element to his game."
Chase says he took some things from Boyd, but not his work against zones.
"He did a lot of good stuff in zones. He had a great hammer step to stop himself out of breaks," Chase says. "I feel like (playing against zone is) more of a feel thing. More of a feel. Like you feel someone staring at you."
Chase probably won't be staring at Burrow Sunday. Chase says Burrow knows when he wants the ball. He doesn't have to say anything.
"A glance," Chase says. "Only Joe knows it."
He'll get the ball. The buzz in L.A. is if this defense can put up the same numbers against high-flyers like the Bengals.
Four of the Chargers' wins have come against offenses ranked 24th or lower and four of the six lowest-ranked pass games. Of the nine quarterbacks they have faced, none are in the top 10 in passer rating. Burrow is second.
Chase said he and Burrow have chatted about the two-pointer in Baltimore on the last play that went incomplete to tight end Tanner Hudson on a play set up by Chase's third touchdown of the night.
"Just looking to see maybe what we could have done differently and how we'll handle it the next time," Chase says.
IRON MIKE
If you ask Bengals slot cornerback Mike Hilton, he's having one of the best seasons of his eight-year career.
Always a solid tackler, it really stands out in a year defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo is looking for more consistent tackling. Of the 65 cornerbacks who have played at least 400 snaps, his missed tackle percentage of 7.5 is ninth-best in the league, according to Pro Football Focus. According to The Athletic, it's the best among the Bengals defensive regulars.
Like like last season, he hasn't given up any touchdowns, although the passer rating of his 190 slot covers (13th in the league), is 91.2, sixth best among those with that many, compared to last year's 81.9, the lowest of those with at least 356 slot covers.
And he says he feels fresh.
There's a double-edged sword. He's not playing as much on third down, a point of pride, but he also believes the fewer snaps have helped.
"I will say that. It takes a toll off my body," said Hilton, who turned 30 in March. "It kind of freshens me up a little bit."
It's not like Hilton didn't see the third-down role coming. Anarumo talked about it with him in training camp. But Hilton didn't become one of the league's top inside players at an undrafted 5-9, 184 pounds without a flow of competitive juices.
So when he sees the Bengals 29th on third down (50% the last three weeks) and 31st in the red zone, there is something inside.
"He knows I'm competitive. Especially on third down, the money down," Hilton said this week. "It hasn't been my year for that. At first, it was a hard adjustment. But me being a leader, I kind of just took it in stride and playing my role.
"Do the best I can on first and second down. Will I make that play, who knows? I feel like if I'm out there, it brings our (comfort) up. Things can still change. But I know my role and I'm doing my best to play it."
Hilton says Anarumo told him he's making the moves for "matchup purposes."
"Third-and-six or plus, I'm usually off the field," Hilton said, "because it's going to be a little more man coverage and, obviously, depending who that slot receiver is, some matchups work better."
But Hilton knows things can change in a league where even the initials say 'Not For Long.'
"We kind of had an understanding how it's going to go He knows I'm always ready when my number is called," Hilton said.
