Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh is always a great interview—but even he’s kicked it up a notch when talking about quarterback Justin Herbert. 

This is especially the case for Chargers fans when they think Harbaugh takes a veiled shot at a rival such as Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. 

While singing the praises of Herbert before Week 10, Harbaugh expanded on thoughts that his franchise passer doesn’t get enough roughing-the-passer calls. 

Part of the problem, he noted, is that Herbert himself isn’t exactly the type to complain at officials for those calls: "Oh that's not Justin Herbert... Maybe a lesser man."

And boy did Chargers fans have thoughts about that nugget. 

Of course, Harbaugh is just coach-speaking his way through praising his quarterback while also going public with complaints about how officials treat said quarterback—in a way that will duck league fines, too. 

But it made for some funny conversations between rivals, so here’s a sampling of the online reaction: 

Fans on other social platforms ran with it too, such as on Reddit, with one writing "I feel like Mahomes and Josh Allen felt this attack, deep in their soul." Or this, from another thread: "It sucks that this works. Mahomes and Allen both do it and then the refs will throw the late flag. It should play no role but it does. So it punishes players for not trying to sell calls and complain."

In Harbaugh's defense, he wound up calling himself a lesser man in the same chat because he happens to complain, for whatever it's worth, too.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/chargers/ as Chargers fans hilariously think Jim Harbaugh threw shade at Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes.