The first two weeks of the Chargers’ season have followed the same pattern.
The team led the Dolphins in the fourth quarter of Week One before losing on a late Tyreek Hill touchdown catch and they led in the fourth quarter against the Titans on Sunday before ultimately losing 27-24 in overtime. Those losses come after the Chargers blew a huge lead in last year’s playoff loss to the Jaguars and head coach Brandon Staley didn’t like fielding a question about whether that loss has had an impact on the rough start to the Chargers season.
“I’m not worried about the Jacksonville loss. The Jacksonville loss hasn’t carried onto the season whatsoever,” Staley said in his postgame press conference. “If you’ve seen our training camp or you’ve seen the way we’ve played in the first two games, it hasn’t had an impact on our team whatsoever. Our team is connected, our team has played its heart out in two games, and we’ve lost two tough games. It has nothing to do with the Jacksonville game and if you ask anyone in our locker room, it has nothing to do with the Jacksonville game. And that’s just the truth. It’s a convenient storyline for you and for everybody else, but it’s not the truth. We’ve lost two tough games but the guys in that locker room, the men in that locker room they are finishers and they have what it takes and we’re excited to prove ourselves.”
The Chargers have developed a reputation for finding ways to lose games that are there for the taking and it probably won’t take too many more before people start asking if Staley is the right guy to put an end to that trend.