Sorry, I’d broken this down with bullets but the formatting changed on me. Posting again for readability:

• I think being dishonest is one of life’s truly great sins. I hate it when politicians do it. I hate it when senior executives do it (even when I’ve had to proofread their speaking notes :-p). I hate it when media people wilfully do it. I think it actually erodes the fabric of our society because mutual trust between humans is what’s taken us from the warring middle ages, into modernity, globalisation and relative prosperity. It hurtles us as a species back towards a darker period of history. That’s a sobering thought and maybe I’m quixotic to expect more from football coaches, but that hopefully clarifies my stance.

• I thought Harbaugh was dishonest in that press conference and not just unduly optimistic. I think it was a calculated decision not to show weakness in front of the media. He prevaricated when he could have directly answered a question. And there is no way, that he watched Jonathan Taylor rush for 3 TDs against the Defense, going virtually untouched each time, and thought that was a stalwart, resolute performance. I don’t buy it.

• Staley was certainly stubborn and got angry when he was repeatedly asked about whether he’d retain playcalling. He had strong self-belief (probably to the point of delusion) that his staff (and he) could right the ship. But he didn’t hesitate to speak truthfully about things being bad when they were bad. His problem was speaking too much, not too little. I thought Lynn and McCoy were also truthful when the team had to do a better job. And Belichick’s “On to Cincinnati’ speech – although neatly falling into the ‘refusing to directly answer’ bucket – at least wasn’t him trying to sell us all a lemon. He just didn’t want to talk about the game. So I think Harbaugh’s approach to that press conference was worse than anything I’ve seen from a Chargers coach previously and disrespectful to everyone who listened (especially fans but also the journalists).

• I agree with you that he unquestionably thinks it’s the best approach. And thankfully his charter isn’t to win press conferences, it’s to win football games and be a good coach. And he’s clearly much better at those things than Staley was.

• FWIW, I haven’t missed a Staley presser yet as Saints DC. I still find him to be one of the most interesting/thoughtful coaches in the League, consistently sharing deep insights into offensive and defense trends, and his knowledge of the game and commitment to personal improvement (at least, so it seems) is frequently on display. The Saints Defense is 19th in EPA/Play, so he’s only doing an ok job.

• I may not be a fan of Harbaugh’s press conferences (tbh I don’t find him to be the most erudite speaker about the game). But I’m a big fan of the way he builds the self-belief of his players and a strong culture. It was on full display last night.

I don’t know if Staley’s learned from it either. I think it would be fair to have doubts about that.

I can respect the opinion that “Harbaugh owes nothing to anyone in his press conferences’. I think there are two broader lens that could be taken to that position:

• As the key figurehead of the Chargers org, he arguably has duties to the team’s broader stakeholders including the fan base. If the duty of honesty is one of those, I think that presser came close to a breach!

• As one of 32 NFL HCs, he arguably has duties to the broader NFL world as a custodian of the sport, including media. He is paid very handsomely to do what he does. I’m sure if all 32 HCs started giving ‘no comment’ interviews, the NFL would do something about it. Ultimately, sport is an entertainment product for the masses, and when HCs refuse to engage with the media meaningfully or honestly it could, theoretically, detract from the product and spectacle.

Both of those could be viewed as highfalutin takes on it all. Harbaugh might not even accept that he was dishonest! “On to Tennessee”