Welcome to the Harbowl

One of the most intriguing aspects of the 47th Super Bowl is that it will be the first in history in which the head coaches of each team are brothers. So which team flag is Jack Harbaugh, father of the Baltimore Ravens’ John Harbaugh and the San Francisco 49ers’ Jim Harbaugh, going to fly outside his home?

Both coaches come from a football background. John Harbaugh is the more experienced of the two, filling myriad roles in college football—including tight end coach, special teams coach and running back coach—for more than 10 years. He was later hired by the Philadelphia Eagles as a special teams coordinator and became defensive back coach after nine years. With more than two decades of coaching under his belt, John landed the coveted head coach position for the Baltimore Ravens in 2008 and has consequently led the team to the postseason every year since then.

Jim Harbaugh, on the other hand, has a more varied past. After graduating from the University of Michigan, where he played as a quarterback, Jim was selected by the Chicago Bears in the first round of the 1987 NFL draft. Playing for 14 years in the NFL, he garnered a considerable amount of praise and forged a respectable legacy, not to mention an appearance on Saved by the Bell. Not wanting to give up on football, he began coaching at the college level in 2004, and during his 2010 season with the Stanford Cardinals he led the team to the first 11-win season in the program’s history. Soon after the Cardinals won their first Bowl Championship Series game, Jim agreed to a five-year head coaching deal with the 49ers and, like his older brother, has guided his team to the playoffs in every season he has been there.

Although a brother-versus-brother coaching matchup had never occurred in the NFL until the Harbaughs squared off last year on Thanksgiving Day, siblings have met on the field throughout NFL history. Eli and Peyton Manning, both Super Bowl MVPs and future Hall of Fame quarterbacks, have faced each other a couple times in the past few years and are sure to have a few more heated matchups before they’re done. In the ’90s, the Sharpe brothers—tight end Shannon and wide receiver Sterling—each made it to the Pro Bowl at least five times during their careers. And going even further back, brothers Bruce and Clay Matthews Jr. (Clay Matthews III, the Green Bay Packers linebacker, is his son) were a legitimate offensive and defensive threat, respectively.

Both Jim and John Harbaugh have told reporters they would like coverage to be focused on the players rather than the brotherly rivalry on the sidelines. With more than a week until the big game and nicknames like “Harbowl” and “Superbaugh” infiltrating front page headlines, it’s unlikely that their familial connection will ever leave the spotlight.