NFL Playing Career
Harbaugh entered the NFL as a first-round draft pick by the Chicago Bears in 1987. He spent his first season on the bench with future head coach Sean Payton. He replaced Jim McMahon and competed for the starting job in 1989, eventually winning it and starting 14 games in 1990. He played seven seasons for the Bears and passed for a career-high 3,121 yards with them in 1991. Harbaugh holds the Bears record for most completions with 1,023.
Harbaugh left the Bears in 1994 and joined the Indianapolis Colts, and in 1995, achieved career highs in completion percentage (63.7) and touchdown passes (17). While with the Colts, during the 1995–96 NFL playoffs he led the team to the AFC Championship game and came within one dropped Hail Mary pass of taking the Colts to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1970. In 1995, he was voted to the Pro Bowl, was named Comeback Player of the Year and AFC Player of the Year, and was runner-up in the NFL MVP voting. With the Colts, Harbaugh completed 746 of 1,230 passes for 8,705 yards and 49 touchdowns and won the NFL passer rating title in 1995 with a rating of 100.7. In January 2005, Harbaugh was inducted into the Indianapolis Colts Ring of Honor as one of the most successful and popular players in the club's Indianapolis era.
After a last-place 3–13 record in 1997, Harbaugh was traded to the Baltimore Ravens (based in the Colts' former home city of Baltimore, Maryland) to make room for 1st overall draft pick Peyton Manning. During the 1998 season, Harbaugh was the starter but would split playing time with Eric Zeier. Then he played two years with the San Diego Chargers. In 1999 he led the Chargers to an 8–8 record, but in 2000 the Chargers finished with a 1–15 record behind Harbaugh and first-round bust Ryan Leaf. Harbaugh signed with the Detroit Lions prior to the 2001 season, where he was expected to back up incumbent starter Charlie Batch. However, on the eve of the regular season, the Lions cut him and traded for Ty Detmer. Harbaugh then closed out his NFL career with the Carolina Panthers in 2001, where he dressed for 6 games but did not compile any statistics. The 2001 Panthers, like the Chargers the year before, finished with a 1–15 record.
For his NFL career, Harbaugh played in 177 league games with 140 starts. He completed 2,305 of 3,918 passes for 26,288 yards with 129 touchdowns. Particularly during his time with Indianapolis—such as when he led the Colts to come-from-behind wins over the Chiefs and Chargers in the 1995–96 NFL playoffs and a near upset over the No. 2 AFC seed Steelers—he earned the nickname "Captain Comeback" (the second player to be so nicknamed after Roger Staubach) for his ability to win games in the fourth quarter after overcoming significant point deficits. Along with his brother John, Jim demonstrates a knack for developing wide-outs and tight-ends.
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