INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Just days before his debut as head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, Jim Harbaugh presented his players with a gift.

They were each given a work shirt with an embroidered name and a lightning bolt logo, the kind of shirt an auto mechanic would wear when going to the garage.

Harbaugh told his players that they probably all had someone in their family who provided for their loved ones by “doing the hard work, the dirty work, probably a job they didn’t enjoy doing.” The jerseys served as a reminder to the Chargers that they would have to embrace the same selfless, blue-collar mentality this season to get where they wanted to be.

That was exactly the gutsy approach the Chargers took on Sunday as they opened the Harbaugh era with a hard-fought 22-10 victory over the visiting Las Vegas Raiders. They relied on their defense to keep them competitive in the first half when their offense was stagnant and ineffective. They wore the Raiders down after halftime with a physical, grinding run game. And they finished in a way that previous Chargers teams rarely had.

When Raiders coach Antonio Pierce ignored the win-probability statistics midway through the fourth quarter and opted to punt on fourth-and-1 from the Los Angeles 43-yard line, the Chargers made him pay. They went 92 yards in eight plays to secure the victory, the decisive play being a 61-yard run by J.K. Dobbins to set up a touchdown reception by Ladd McConkey.

“That was a big statement from the offense,” Chargers defensive end Joey Bosa said. “We’ve had a lot of games where it’s been close at the end, we’ve had the lead and we don’t quite get there. It’s only one week, but it’s big to show that we can do that.”

The disciplined, defense-focused formula the Chargers employed Sunday is one they’ll need to duplicate if they are to exceed modest preseason expectations. As defensive lineman Morgan Fox put it, “We’re showing that we’re going to play physical, we’re going to play fast and we’re not going to hesitate.”

The encouraging start to Harbaugh’s tenure provided a jolt of hope to a Chargers franchise that had been synonymous with underachievement and disappointment for decades. The Chargers have burned through nine head coaches and five general managers since their lone Super Bowl appearance in 1995, further alienating fans with their habit of gagging away near-certain victories.

The most recent regime change came at the end of last year’s 5-12 season that began with playoff aspirations. Chargers owner Dean Spanos fired coach Brandon Staley and general manager Tom Telesco after a horrific, nationally televised 63-21 loss to the Raiders.

“Doing nothing in the name of continuity was not a risk I was willing to take,” Spanos said in a statement at the time. “Our fans have held strong through so many ups and downs and close games. They deserve more. Quite frankly, they deserve more.”

That sentiment was what led Spanos to hire the eccentric but successful Harbaugh, weeks after he led Michigan to its first national championship in more than a quarter century. The Chargers hoped Harbaugh could engineer a quick turnaround similar to the one he’d engineered in each of his previous stops.

At Stanford, Harbaugh transformed a 1-11 train wreck into a Rose Bowl and Orange Bowl champion. With the 49ers, Harbaugh built a six-win also-ran into a Super Bowl contender. At his alma mater Michigan, Harbaugh restored a struggling blue blood to its former greatness.

Minutes into his introductory press conference last February in Los Angeles, Harbaugh insisted that he planned to win “multiple championships” as head coach of the Chargers. It was an ambitious goal for any new coach, let alone one inheriting the situation that Harbaugh inherited.

First, the Chargers have the misfortune of playing in the same division as Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. That alone makes their path to a favorable playoff seed more challenging.

Second, the roster Harbaugh inherited isn’t even as talented as the one that won just five games a year ago. Receiving threats Keenan Allen, Mike Williams and Gerald Everett are gone, each replaced by younger, less proven players.

Third, there’s that little problem of the Chargers’ infamous home field disadvantage since moving to Los Angeles in 2017. The stands at SoFi Stadium are often awash in the visiting team’s colors during Chargers home games. Even on Sunday, during Harbaugh’s debut, Raiders coach Antonio Pierce raised his right arm and asked for more noise from his team’s fans with the Chargers facing third-and-15 in the second quarter.

While Harbaugh can’t solve all of those problems quickly, he has earned his players’ trust right away. Practices are more focused. Game plans have clear objectives. When the Chargers do drills during practice, it’s common to see Harbaugh wearing cleats and acting as quarterback. When the Chargers lift weights, Harbaugh is often seen doing squats or bench presses next to them.

The authenticity Harbaugh exudes ensures that players take him seriously when he uses the quirky expressions he is known for.

In press conferences, he has referred to “satisfied” as a “bottom-five” football word and touted the camaraderie-building benefits of his quarterback and offensive line stuck in a broken elevator. The night before Sunday’s game, he challenged his team to “turn the worm,” apparently Harbaugh’s way of eliminating the fatalism that once permeated the franchise and instilling faith that the Chargers can overcome their cursed history.

“I take it all seriously, but I laugh at it at the same time,” Bosa said. “That’s the best combination. He’s entertaining and funny, but at the same time there’s a lot of relevance in the things he says.

“I really feel involved in his meetings. I always wait to see what the hell he’s going to say. It feels like he’s really a head coach who has a vision and has executed it before. You can feel confident when you play for him.”

That was evident Sunday as the Chargers bounced back from a first half in which they produced 83 total yards and two first downs. Dobbins, in particular, gave the offense a boost in the second half by scoring three big runs, the last of which he felt would have resulted in a touchdown had he been in better shape.

Dobbins’ 135-yard performance was especially significant given the injuries he’s dealt with in recent years. In Baltimore’s 2021 season opener, Dobbins tore his ACL, LCL and meniscus and missed the remainder of the season. Last season, in Week 1, he suffered a season-ending rupture of his Achilles tendon.

Now he’s back as one of the potential linchpins of a Harbaugh team that’s looking to outwork, outplay and outwork its opponents. The Chargers plan to embody the new work jerseys that Harbaugh gifted them. They hope to go from powder blue to working class

“I actually wore mine to the game,” defenseman Poona Ford said, pointing to his locker where his work shirt hung. “I think Coach Harbaugh’s message was to get ready to go to work. I feel like we set the tone today for what we want to be this season.”