EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Jim Harbaugh’s focus is always on “the team, the team, the team,” as he has put it repeatedly since February. And so the Los Angeles Chargers coach was never going to pass up an opportunity like this: Two Eastern time road games back-to-back, and a viable reason to get his players and staff members together again in that sacred place, the team hotel.
The Chargers leave for Charlotte on Friday. They play the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. The Chargers will then stay in Charlotte for the week, practicing at UNC Charlotte, before heading north for their Week 3 game at the Pittsburgh Steelers. They will be spending nine days away from L.A. before returning the night of Sept. 22.
“It’s not the most ideal thing,” Harbaugh admitted earlier this week.
There is the body-clock reasoning. The Panthers game and the Steelers game kick off at 10 a.m. Pacific time. And staying in Charlotte saves about 10 hours of travel time.
But make no mistake: The culture-building component of a week on the road is part of Harbaugh’s calculus.
“We get to be all together again for a whole week, almost a la training camp,” Harbaugh said. “Definite team bonding to be had in that kind of environment where we’re all together.”
He added: “There’s no reason why we can’t have some fun. Let’s bring the board games and the snacks.”
One board game that will be making the trip is called Chameleon. It can be played by anywhere from three to eight players. One player is secretly designated as the Chameleon. A code word is also selected. The other players must figure out who the Chameleon is before the Chameleon figures out the code word.
Like many of the bonding elements of this Chargers team, the genesis of Chameleon was in the team hotel. Receiver Simi Fehoko said he started bringing it to the hotel for the final three games of last season.
Kicker Cameron Dicker and quarterback Justin Herbert were the first to play with Fehoko. The offensive linemen then joined in. Through the offseason and into the season, it has become a favorite of the locker room.
“Greatest game ever invented,” Fehoko said.
“It’s a dope game,” linebacker Daiyan Henley added.
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The Chargers had “a lot” of players staying in the team hotel during organized team activities in the spring, according to Henley. Training camp started July 23, and all players were required to stay at the team hotel until the first preseason game. After the first preseason game, veterans had the option of staying elsewhere. But as Henley said, “It was guys in the team hotel that didn’t necessarily have to be in the hotel that just wanted to do it, just wanted to fully embrace the culture and bond with the guys.”
“It’s a team that enjoys each other’s company,” Harbaugh said.
Herbert stayed in the team hotel throughout training camp, according to Henley.
“We all know what Herbert does, what he makes,” Henley said of the Chargers’ $265 million franchise quarterback. “He doesn’t have to stay in the hotel, but that’s just the type of captain he is, and he just shows his leadership in those type of ways all the time. He shows the way to be a leader.”
The Chargers moved to their new facility for the start of camp. Players were moving up from Orange County and searching for new apartments and houses. The team hotel provided a place to stay during this transition. And that was a factor in so many players staying in the team hotel.
But not the only factor.
“It just goes to show where everyone’s head is at,” left tackle Rashawn Slater said. “Everyone’s just invested in what we got going on here.”
Harbaugh draws that out of players.
Henley remembers Harbaugh’s message early in the offseason: “To be a team, we have to be more than just a team when it comes to football. We have to be guys that want to be around each other when it comes to off the field.”
“It’s about unity,” Henley said. “And as much of a business as it is, he always reminds us that the connections we make amongst each other is as important as winning a game.”
The former tends to feed the latter.
During the spring, at the team hotel in Orange County, the Chargers would play pickleball on rooftop courts, according to Fehoko. Dicker, Herbert and offensive tackle Foster Sarell rounded out the foursome.
“We got close,” Fehoko said. “Really close.”
The teammates would get together on weekends, including regular excursions to escape rooms. That has continued after the move. Left tackle Rashawn Slater said the Chargers went to an escape room a couple of weeks ago during training camp. The leaders in the escape room, Slater said, were Herbert and right guard Trey Pipkins III.
“They’re the most experienced,” Slater added.
Herbert would host Chargers at his house to play on his golf simulator and cook dinner, according to Fehoko.
Dicker hosts what the Chargers call “Wagyu Wednesdays.”
“He grabs steaks, invites everyone over to his house, and we all just eat,” Fehoko said.
If the time at the team hotel was planting the seeds, the Chargers are now seeing the stems grow and flowers blossom.
Players new to the roster are starting to join in. On Thursday night, tight end Will Dissly was planning on hosting teammates for a game night, according to Fehoko, who said he was bringing Chameleon.
“Even them,” Fehoko said of the new additions to the roster, “they’re just embracing it.”
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Slater sensed the team coming together during the offseason. Harbaugh brought a new approach. So did executive director of player performance Ben Herbert.
Early in the process, Slater said all the Chargers had a similar reaction: “What the hell are we doing?”
“It’s been a lot of change from what we’re used to in the NFL,” Slater said. “When Coach Harbaugh came in and Coach Herbert came in, it started in OTAs, we were doing a lot of things differently than we had done before. And so I think everyone being initially shocked by the difference and then just being like, ‘Well, you know what, let’s just get it,’ — that’s been a huge part of the bonding.
“That experience of going through change together and going from, ‘What is this?’ to fully bought in and just having fun with it.”
The trip to Charlotte will be a first in the NFL for Slater. He has never stayed in a city in between games.
“It’s just an opportunity to be like, ‘Well, s—, we might as well have fun with it,” Slater said. “It’s a really positive environment, and so we’ll just go attack it together.”
“Every day it’s something new,” cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. said. “Just got to laugh, just be happy.”
It is easy to see the camaraderie building.
Will it lead to wins? That remains to be seen.
But it started in the team hotel. And now, in Charlotte, it will continue in the team hotel.
“No matter who you are, what your status is, get to know everybody that’s here,” Henley said. “That’s something that has become a staple for us.”
(Top photo of Jim Harbaugh and Bradley Bozeman: Ashley Landis / Associated Press)
