The Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday suffered their worst meltdown in franchise history, and the loss has resulted in some comments head coach Brandon Staley made before the season going viral.
Back in June, Staley spoke with Daniel Popper of The Athletic about the perception that there is a dark cloud lingering over the Chargers. He said the history of the franchise has led to fans expecting bad things to happen. Staley said there is even a term for it — Chargering.
“The history of this team when I got here, it was like, someone’s going to get hurt, they’re going to blow a lead, something catastrophic is going to happen,” Staley said at the time. “There’s this Chargering, and there’s all these external factors that I know in my life, they’re just all excuses. They’re just all excuses. And so, all right, well, how do you change that? Well, you have to do things different. You have to have a different approach.”
Unfortunately for Staley, he has only helped further that negative reputation over the past two seasons.
The Chargers led 27-0 late in the second quarter of their wild-card game against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Saturday night. They were outscored 24-3 in the second half en route to a 31-30 loss.
Jacksonville’s comeback was the third-largest in NFL postseason history. It was also the biggest blown lead in Chargers history.
Staley was not the only person to blame for the collapse, but he certainly played a role. He also decided to play star wide receiver Mike Williams in a meaningless Week 18 game, and Williams injured his back. He sat out on Saturday.
The Chargers also missed the postseason altogether last year after Staley made one of the most inexplicable timeout calls you will ever see. Both that game and Saturday’s meltdown were classic “Chargering” and could wind up costing Staley his job.
