Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh is taking precautions for the next few weeks after he briefly left Sunday's win against the Denver Broncos. Harbaugh went to the locker room in the first quarter for what was originally described as an illness, but was later revealed to be a heart rhythm abnormality.

“It's called atrial flutter,” Harbaugh said. “I got into an episode (on Sunday) with it. Doctors checked me out and it got back into a sinus rhythm — normal rhythm — so I came back.”

Harbaugh confirmed the atrial flutter with a cardiologist on Monday. Moving forward, the first-year Chargers coach has been prescribed blood thinners and will be wearing a heart monitor for the next two weeks before being reevaluated, according to Grant Gordon of NFL.com.

“According to Harbaugh, he will wear the heart monitor for two weeks before he is reevaluated,” Gordon wrote. “The coach having an ablation procedure also remains an option. An ablation procedure, per the Mayo Clinic, is a treatment for irregular heart rhythms that uses catheters and heat or cold energy to create small scars in the heart, with the scars blocking faulty signals that cause irregular heartbeats.”

Despite the scare on Sunday, Harbaugh doesn't plan on missing the Chargers' Week 7 matchup with the Arizona Cardinals or any games after that.

“It would take my heart stopping for me to not be out there on the sideline,” Harbaugh said on Monday.

Chargers establish themselves as No. 2 in AFC West

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Los Angeles Chargers running back J.K. Dobbins (27) celebrates his touchdown carry with quarterback Justin Herbert (10) in the second quarter against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High.
Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Despite the medical scare to Jim Harbaugh, the Chargers still firmly established themselves as the second-best team in the AFC West on Sunday with a 23-16 win on the road over the Denver Broncos. The final score is closer than the game was for most of the afternoon, as the Chargers jumped out to a 23-0 lead after three quarters before the Broncos made a late push.

The Chargers followed a similar formula to get the win as they have been all season long. They controlled the clock on the ground, stayed ahead of the sticks and relied on Justin Herbert to keep the chains moving on third down. Sunday was a masterclass in those areas from Los Angeles, as it converted 11 out of 18 third downs and controlled the ball for more than 37 minutes.

Defensively, coordinator Jesse Minter continued his success in his first year calling plays on that side of the ball for the Chargers, who flustered Bo Nix all afternoon and forced the Denver offense into two turnovers. The Broncos were unable to get much of anything going until garbage time, when they finally started moving the ball through the air.

This Chargers team isn't the most explosive, and it will take a few offseason before Harbaugh and his new staff a mold the team into exactly what they want it to be. Despite that, it still sits at 3-2 and is in a good spot to make a push for a Wild Card spot in the AFC in his first season.