Brandon Staley Era Defined by Controversy and What-If Moments

Chargers coach Brandon Staley survived some of the most cringeworthy losses in recent franchise history, such as a 27-point blown lead against the Jaguars in the playoffs last year. But it took what was quite possibly the most embarrassing loss in franchise history, Thursday’s 63–21 smackdown in Las Vegas, including a 42-point halftime deficit and the most points scored in Raiders history, to create an official vacancy in Los Angeles.

Staley was fired Friday along with GM Tom Telesco, ending a tenure that began with much hype and promise but ended with the lot of us asking: What if?

Not necessarily, What if the Chargers hadn’t hired Brandon Staley? The other options in that coaching cycle were a mixed bag, with Urban Meyer, Dan Campbell, David Culley, Robert Saleh, Arthur Smith and Nick Sirianni after a very late firing of Doug Pederson (although the Chargers were also deeply interested in Giants coach Brian Daboll at the time as well). But, What if the Brandon Staley era were done differently?

The Chargers were always going to fall for the former Rams defensive coordinator, who, according to one person familiar with the interview process, dazzled ownership specifically with his ties to both Sean McVay and Vic Fangio, and his familiarity with the quarterback position. Staley had a reputation for being a great interviewer, much like he was when McVay was looking to replace defensive coordinator Wade Phillips with someone fluent in the Fangio defense. After McVay met Staley, he essentially shut down the rest of the interview process.

But early on, it was fair to wonder whether Staley, who had moved from John Carroll University to the Chicago Bears in 2017, coached outside linebackers for two years, then spent another year with the Broncos before his lone season as a defensive coordinator with the Rams in ’20, was able to see the bigger picture when it came to maximizing this roster (specifically quarterback Justin Herbert). His initial staff included no one with previous NFL head coaching experience, even though Staley had been in the league for just a short time.

Despite now being attached to the McVay tree, and having access to many of the Kyle Shanahan disciples who were tangentially connected through a 2019 Broncos team running the same offense and probably would have salivated at the chance to coach Herbert, Staley went with Joe Lombardi, a longtime Sean Payton lieutenant who had an unsuccessful stint as the Lions’ offensive coordinator and was dismissed in the middle of his second season. Lombardi had coached Staley in college. Shane Steichen, a California native and now a Coach of the Year candidate viewed as one of the best play-callers in the NFL, was the Chargers’ offensive coordinator before Staley’s arrival and moved to Philadelphia for what was initially a non-play-calling offensive coordinator position.

Despite seasons in which Los Angeles was second and third in points, respectively, and Herbert threw for more than 5,000 yards, the Chargers’ offense always seemed to fall just short of its peak. The team lost Frank Smith—now one of the most trusted voices for Mike McDaniel in Miami and a likely head coaching candidate in 2024—after Staley’s first season.

Staley has had many controversial moments during his tenure, including:

• Insisting on calling the defense or making data-driven fourth-down decisions that, while mathematically sound, could at times put the defense in egregiously bad spots (like backed up on its own 25-yard line);
• Calling a timeout late in a game against the Raiders in which both teams simply needed a tie to clinch a playoff berth;
• Doubling down and keeping Lombardi for a second season in which most of Herbert’s numbers, including touchdown passes, first downs achieved, yards per attempt and passing success rate, all declined.

In hiring offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, who was unproven outside of Dallas and who himself had only been in the league for a relatively short amount of time, Staley was pushing his chips to the center of the table to drive a Chargers team from serially underperforming into the depths of a playoff race, even if it meant placing an obvious interim head coach replacement, who himself was a sought after head coaching candidate, at his right side. In selecting receiver Quentin Johnston in the first round of the 2023 draft, Staley was also doubling down on the idea that a spaced-out receiving corps with a distinct height advantage would be the antidote to a sea of Shanahan and McVay copycats; another one of his long-held beliefs.

His unwavering confidence in his own ability and processes ran head on into the typical Chargers experience. The team was a stranger in its own home stadium. The best players were chronically injured, and the pipeline between personnel and the on-field product was murky at best. When combined with coaching hubris, the resulting vacillations in performance were almost inevitable.

The firing of Staley will certainly have ripple effects. After the loss to the Jaguars in January, when some fans had expected the Chargers to move on from their coach, the job was viewed as a crown jewel. Los Angeles is a great place to live, Herbert is a great quarterback to coach and the defensive set of playmakers was appetizing.

Now, it may be less so. The Chargers’ roster is aging, even if parts of the offensive line and quarterback positions are on sound footing. Also less appetizing, perhaps, is the idea of hiring the young, upstart defensive coordinator leaguewide. Staley’s growing pains, both with putting his own spin on the defense and, more important, managing and guiding the offensive side of the ball, illustrated those challenges well, leading us all to wonder how differently his tenure could have gone.