Skip to main content
Join

WATCH: Chargers head coach makes extremely questionable decision vs. Las Vegas Raiders

Wade-Peeryby:Wade Peery•01/09/22
On3 image
(Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)

In what will go down as one of the most questionable coaching moves in the entire 2021 NFL season, LA Chargers head coach Brandon Staley decided to run the football up the middle with Austin Ekeler not once, but twice on back-to-back plays. The second time was on a fourth and one from the Chargers’ own 18-yard line.

Watch it below.

The Raiders’ defensive line sniffed it out from the start and the run never had a chance. It wasn’t even close. Las Vegas defensive tackle Darius Philon had one of his numerous stops in the Chargers’ backfield on the night. He had a dominant evening for the Raiders.

The game was still a one score game, yet Staley decided to risk it inside his own 20-yard line.

It was a mind-blowingly bad decision from a guy who’s been respected as one of the brightest minds in the National Football League thus far. Simply put, that fourth down decision was one of the worst moves he’s made in a long, long time. It was one of the worst moves in the NFL by any coach this season. Running Ekeler up the middle on back-to-back plays? Inside your own 20? Calling a run up the middle on fourth and short? It boggles the mind.

Former USC star quarterback Matt Leinart did not like the decision either.

The coaching blunder gave the Raiders the football in great field position, with 8:57 remaining and they got a field goal out of it. The Raiders are currently up 20-14 in the game and Brandon Staley is one remarkably lucky man. That was a horrible, horrible coaching decision.

Chargers once again finding a new way to lose

It just doesn’t make any sense. Year in, year out, the Chargers are absolutely stacked with talent but they seemingly find new ways to lose every year. Coaching decisions like that one certainly don’t help.

Brandon Staley is a remarkably bright football coaching mind but after that decision, let’s just say his stock took a serious hit. The Chargers are loaded with offensive talent: Ekeler, Herbert, Williams, Allen, Cook. Not only that, they have one of the game’s best safeties in Derwin James.

It’s mind-boggling how a team that talented can find a new way to lose. Their defense has allowed 173 points, the most in the league this season and the 3rd most in NFL history.

The team has one of the game’s bright young signal-callers who throws one of the best deep balls in the game today, but it’s not going to matter if their ultra-aggressive head coach doesn’t figure out how to make better game management decisions in the future.