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Los Angeles Chargers head coach Brandon Staley came into his second season already with a ton of pressure on him.
Staley is known as an offensive whiz kid of sorts. But his controversial fourth down calls got him into some trouble as a rookie head coach, especially after the Charges missed the playoffs.
Year two has been a success, however. Despite an absolutely brutal run of injuries to the Chargers’ star players, Staley and co. are headed to the AFC playoffs.
The Chargers locked up their playoff spot weeks ago. They then locked up the fifth seed in the AFC when the Ravens lost to the Bengals in the early wave of games on Sunday.
This allowed Staley the opportunity to rest his starters headed into next weekend’s game against the Jaguars. Instead, he opted to play everyone. The decision quickly came back to bite him.
Starting wide receiver Mike Williams left the game with a back injury that could keep him out of the playoffs. Chargers fans were furious with the head coach. But Staley isn’t backing down.
Brandon Staley Defends Decision To Play Chargers Starters Against Broncos
The Chargers went on to lose the game to the Denver Broncos, 31-28. But even despite the final score and injury to Williams, Staley believes he made the right choice.
“We were trying to compete in the game and we only have 48 guys on the team that are active for the game,” Staley said. “So we wanted to make sure that they went a good ways in this football game and competed at a high level and then when we felt like it was right for them to get out of the game, then that’s what we were going to do, slowly phase them out so that we could get ready for next week.” – via ESPN
Star wide receiver Keenan Allen and defensive tackle Sebastian Joseph-Day both backed Staley’s decision as well. But something tells us that fans won’t change their minds, especially if the Chargers lose to the Jags next weekend.