Even after listening to Jim Harbaugh throughout Chargers training camp, edge rusher Khalil Mack still can’t grasp how his new coach’s brain works. Whenever Harbaugh speaks, Mack has no idea what he’s about to hear.

“You never know what he’s going to say when he’s standing in front of the whole group in the team room,” Mack said, looking down to hide his smile.

Rookie linebacker Junior Colson played under Harbaugh the last three years at the University of Michigan, and he can’t predict what metaphor Harbaugh might use to express a particular idea.

“Sometimes he still surprises you,” Colson said.

This is also the case at press conferences, where Harbaugh’s spontaneous monologues and unusual choice of words often cause reporters to exchange amused glances.

Last week, Harbaugh explained how important it is for practice squad players to be ready to play in case they are suddenly promoted to the active roster.

“You have to stay cool,” he said, comparing the players to beer mugs.

When Harbaugh was later asked about his development as a coach, he described himself as open to change and illustrated his point by comparing himself to the entrance of a shopping mall.

“Generally, I just look for open doors,” he said. “It’s like you go to a mall and sometimes there’s a row of doors, some of them closed, but one of them open. I don’t try the one that’s closed. I go through that open door.”

It was strange.

It was weird.

It was Harbaugh.

“I definitely don’t know what to expect,” Mack said.

Jim Harbaugh’s speeches often bring a smile to Chargers edge rusher Khalil Mack’s face.

(Kyusung Gong/Associated Press)

But Harbaugh’s unpredictability as a speaker is balanced by his consistency as a coach, which is why his players respect him as much as they like him.

“Everything is understood,” Mack said. “Everything is said in front of everyone and everyone is on the same page. So you go all day long knowing what you’re getting, especially from top to bottom. The expectation is the expectation.”

Before their season-opening game on Sunday at SoFi Stadium against the Las Vegas Raiders, the Chargers will be a changed team.

“Coach Harbaugh has the leadership he needs,” said Mack, who has been selected to the Pro Bowl eight times.

The training is more targeted. The exercises have clear goals. The players are more focused.

Colson said Harbaugh is no longer the same coach he was when he won the national championship at Michigan.

“You have to train differently on certain things because you have older guys now,” Colson said.

However, Colson added: “At his core, he’s still the same person.”

This person is ambitious. This person is ambitious. This person sounded like the eccentric uncle of Clayton Kershaw, the Dodgers’ famously self-motivated left-hander.

When Harbaugh was asked last week if he was happy with reserve quarterback Easton Stick’s preseason progress, he responded, “Happy? That’s just a word I would never use in any way in association with football. Going forward, that word is just a … I hardly use it anymore … that’s an embarrassing word. That would be one of the bottom five words as far as football words go. It wouldn’t even be in the top five. It would be one of the bottom five.”

Why?

“Comfortable would be right up there with satisfied,” Harbaugh said. “That just doesn’t fit me in football. The other words are better. Committed. That’s a great word. Execution. That’s a top-five word. Settlement. Those are real football words to me. Satisfied, bottom five.”

The players sound like they’ve adopted Harbaugh’s mindset. They sound like they believe they’re going to win, and why wouldn’t they? Harbaugh has won everywhere he’s coached, including his last NFL stint with the San Francisco 49ers.

Harbaugh’s personality is palpable in every corner of the Chargers’ new training facility in El Segundo, so much so that the fatalism that once permeated this franchise has disappeared overnight.

That’s no small feat. The Chargers have been defined by their history as Chargers, and overcoming that history was the goal of all of Harbaugh’s predecessors. The previous coach, Brandon Staley, even went so far as to talk to his players about the franchise’s past failures.

That’s not to say the Chargers will be instant Super Bowl contenders like the 49ers were when Harbaugh took over as their coach. But the questions about the Chargers aren’t so much about if they’ll be successful, but rather when they’ll be successful. Winning at some point in the relatively near future seems like a safe bet.

What Harbaugh will say next is another story.