Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh will wear a heart monitor for the next two weeks and has been prescribed blood thinners to control his heartbeat after a consultation with a cardiologist on Monday, he told reporters.
Harbaugh briefly left the sideline during his team’s win Sunday against the Denver Broncos after experiencing a heart rhythm abnormality. The first-year Chargers coach said Sunday he was dealing with an atrial flutter, which he had confirmed by the cardiologist on Monday.
According to Harbaugh, he will wear the heart monitor for two weeks before he is reevaluated. The coach having an ablation procedure also remains an option. An ablation procedure, per the Mayo Clinic, is a treatment for irregular heart rhythms that uses catheters and heat or cold energy to create small scars in the heart, with the scars blocking faulty signals that cause irregular heartbeats.
During Harbaugh’s trip to the blue medical tent and then the locker room on Sunday, defensive coordinator Jesse Minter was deemed the interim head coach.
“That was just a battlefield decision right there,” Harbaugh said, via Alex Insdorf. “[Offensive coordinator Greg Roman] is in the press box, Jesse is on the field.”
Harbaugh, 60, explained on Sunday he has had similar episodes in the past, citing one in 1999 and another in 2012.
The Chargers have a road game at the Arizona Cardinals in Week 7 on Monday, and return home on Oct. 27 to host the New Orleans Saints.
Harbaugh has no plans to miss a game, a message he delivered in vintage Harbaugh fashion.
“It would take my heart stopping for me to not be out there on the sideline,” he said.
