A new report has gone into detail over how former Los Angeles Chargers coach Brandon Staley lost the locker room, including his hard-to-believe message after the team’s infamous playoff collapse last season.
The Chargers jumped out to a 27-0 lead over the Jacksonville Jaguars in that playoff game, only to completely fall apart and lose 31-30. After the game, Staley’s message for his team was that “games like this happen in the NFL,” according to Kris Rhim of ESPN.
The message stunned and annoyed some players, and some viewed it as Staley deflecting blame away from himself for the outcome. Sources within the organization said that was the moment that Staley began to lose the locker room.
Incredibly, the report states that Staley used the exact same line in front of his players following the team’s 63-21 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 15, which led to the coach’s firing the next day.
Ultimately, Staley is described as a coach who got in his own way and alienated some players by playing favorites in the locker room. He had portrayed confidence just before his firing, but he likely saw this coming — and it had been coming for some time.
