Brandon Staley should be on the hot seat after Chargers blowout loss

The Los Angeles Chargers being a disappointment early in the 2022 season is not overly surprising. The Chargers are notorious for disappointing but the team obviously had high hopes for head coach Brandon Staley, a disciple of defensive mastermind Vic Fangio who has a talented roster led by star quarterback Justin Herbert. Unfortunately, Staley and the Chargers watched a chance at the playoffs disappear late last season and they are not off to a good start in 2022.

It’s early — only three games in — but the Chargers’ latest loss at home to the Jacksonville Jaguars by a final score of 38-10 was loaded with significant concerns pointing back to Staley.

Brandon Staley could be a midseason fire if Chargers don’t turn it around

Losing at home to the Jacksonville Jaguars is one thing. As improved as the Jaguars might be this season under Doug Pederson, there were a lot of people that pegged the Chargers as a favorite in the AFC. Some picked them as the favorites in the vaunted AFC West. Others pegged them as having the best roster in the NFL.

Again, it’s very early to be making drastic claims about the Chargers, but as Matt Verderame pointed out, the decision to keep starters in the game late isn’t overly surprising, but there was a huge issue with what Brandon Staley was deciding to do in this specific game. Justin Herbert, running around and trying to avoid being hit while the team is down by 28 points, is an extremely unwise decision.

But wait, there’s more. Herbert was playing in this game with a pretty significant injury to his rib cartilage.

It feels like Brandon Staley completely forgot about the fact that his star QB was playing injured. Letting him start the game when you’re trying to win early in the season is not abnormal or even frowned upon. What could end up doing Staley in as the Chargers‘ head coach is the decision to keep Herbert in the game while his team was down by 28, offensive tackle Rashawn Slater left the game injured, and starting center Corey Linsley wasn’t out there.

Herbert was out there completely vulnerable, dropping back to pass in garbage time of a game that couldn’t be won whatsoever by the Chargers at that point. It’s one thing that the Chargers are now 1-2 after consecutive losses to the Chiefs and Jaguars. They could very well still turn things around but the handling of Herbert in this game against Jacksonville is one of just a number of things that Chargers fans will look to as reasons why Brandon Staley should get the axe as the team’s head coach.

If you can’t win with Justin Herbert putting up the numbers he does, if you can’t protect your star player, if you can’t be competitive at home against the Jacksonville Jaguars…those are usually the ingredients leading to one thing.