Jim Harbaugh says heart scare was reason for Chargers exit in worrying update

Jim Harbaugh has revealed the cause of a brief exit from the Los Angeles Chargers matchup with the Denver Broncos .

Speaking to reporters after the Chargers' 23-16 win over the Broncos, the head coach explained that he suffered an "atrial flutter" on the sideline, forcing him to return to the locker room as a result. During the game, he spoke with CBS sideline reporter AJ Ross and shared his condition with her.

"I asked Coach Harbaugh about having to leave and go to the locker room to start this one and come back out," Ross said in her update. "He said he was dealing with arrhythmia - that's something he's been dealing with on and off for a while. He said he's feeling fine, he's been back here coaching on the sidelines."

• John Harbaugh was pulled from Baltimore Ravens press conference to check on brother Jim
• Jim Harbaugh attends medical tent, forced to leave Los Angeles Chargers sideline

After the win, the 60-year-old gave a more in-depth breakdown as to what he was feeling and why he felt the need to head to the locker room after the episode. Specifically, Harbaugh revealed to reporters that this was not the first time he had an "atrial flutter" episode while coaching on the sideline.

"It's called atrial flutter and I got into an episode today with it," Harbaugh said. "And then the doctors checked me out and it got back into a normal rhythm. So I came back. I could tell there were some irregular beats. I am qualified to talk about it.

"I've had a couple of ablations, one in 1999 and one in 2012. I'll always remember the one in 2012 - it was during the Monday night game. Colin Kaepernick and the 49ers versus the Chicago Bears and Colin had a great night, that night. And it wasn't even during the game. After the game, got checked out and needed to end up having to have an ablation for that one because it didn't go back to rhythm. But 2-0 with arrhythmias."

Simply put, an arrhythmia is an irregular heartbeat, with the heart beating too fast, too slowly or just generally in an irregular fashion. When the heart beats slowly, with adults having a resting heart rate of under 50, that is called bradycardia. On the other hand, if an adult's resting heart rate is over 100, said adult could be suffering from tachycardia.

In this instance, Harbaugh's heart rate could have exceeded 300 beats per minute, thus causing the discomfort he felt on the sideline. It stands to reason that Harbaugh's departure necessitated an examination from a medical professional , though it appeared as if all was well since he was able to return.

And while Harbaugh was able to joke with reporters of his condition, it was clear the incident shook up his family, especially his brother John. The head coach of the Baltimore Ravens had to cut his postgame press conference short after hearing that his brother had his atrial flutter episode.

Despite the worrying situation, both Harbaugh brothers were able to take some solace from their Sundays. Jim's Chargers improved to 3-2 on the season after defeating the Broncos in Denver. Meanwhile, John's Ravens defeated the Washington Commanders to move to 4-2 on the year.

Want to watch more live sports? Peacock has your favorite sports, shows, and more all in one place. Peacock offers plans starting at $7.99 so you can stream live sports like NFL, Premier League, and Big Ten Football.