Jim Harbaugh needs to stop the Justin Herbert hype

Jim Harbaugh attacks the day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind. Perhaps, in some situations, he should take a proverbial chill pill.

The relentless hype regarding quarterback Justin Herbert needs to stop. It’s too much. It’s over the top. And it puts too much pressure on Herbert.

Harbaugh’s latest comments were downright cartoonish.

“Allow me to call my shot, like Babe Ruth pointing his bat over to centerfield: Justin Herbert, when it’s all said and done, when his career comes to an end, I predict he will be known as the greatest, best ever to play the position of quarterback. When it’s all said and done, and his career is finished, we’re going to look back and say, ‘Yep, that’s the best that ever did it.’”

So if that doesn’t happen, whose fault is it? Harbaugh’s? Herbert’s? Someone else’s?

Yes, Harbaugh hopes to speak his prediction into existence. But the prediction needs to be plausible.

What has Herbert done in six NFL seasons to justify the suggestion that he’ll be remembered as better than Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Peyton Manning, Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw?

Herbert’s 209 passing yards on Sunday made him the fourth fastest to 25,000. That’s good. Losing to the Cardinals is not.

And he hasn’t won a playoff game in six seasons with the Chargers.

So if the thing keeping Herbert from the GOAT farm isn’t Herbert himself, it must be the Chargers. Maybe that’s the answer. Maybe he needs to play elsewhere. And maybe, if he believes he has the ability to be an all-time great and his current employer is holding him back from that, he’ll eventually decide he wants to play for another team.

Herbert is one of the better quarterbacks currently in football. He’s not the best. And he’s got a long way to go to be a Hall of Famer, much less the “greatest, best ever to play the position of quarterback.”

Harbaugh is free to believe otherwise. In turn, everyone else is free to believe he’s wrong. Caught in the middle is Herbert, whom Harbaugh is doing no favors by making unrealistic proclamations that serve only to put more pressure on Herbert to perform at a higher level than he has.