This was Aaron playing Madden yesterday. He turned 12 on Friday. When he got the game, he immediately played as the Chargers. You can see how it turned out. I actually sat and watched as he played this exact matchup a few times. Of course, Mike Williams was playing for the Bolts and we all know that wasn't a possibility in the real Wild Card game.
FAITHFUL READER, we also know why that wasn't a possibility. It's been 3 weeks since that Saturday in Jacksonville. I guess the only positive I can say about that game is that all we've been through made the recovery time a lot easier. This season reminded me a little of 2004. I don't know if I thought this team was ready to get win a Super Bowl but they should have done more than they did. Now that we know Joe Lombardi is going and Brandon Staley (and Tom Telesco) are staying, let's take a closer look at their performances.
The Chargers turned their season around against Miami. There is no disputing that. Everyone, myself included, thought that they were done. It seemed like there was no way they could stop Miami's offense, especially with all the injuries. Then they somehow held Derrick Henry in check and Mike Williams' late catch helped them beat Tennessee. Admit it, these were games that we all penciled in as losses earlier. The way Miami was playing for much of the season it seemed like there was no way they would win without Derwin and Bosa.
Yet somehow the team played great defense without them. Much like the loss to the Niners, the Chargers social media team made a whole episode of ALL IN basically telling us what great game plan Staley crafted for the game. Then the Chargers went to Indy and overcame a slow start, along with a Derwin ejection, to lock down a playoff berth. They beat the Rams the following week with another great Williams grab to cement the victory. From the moment they beat the Dolphins, everything they needed to happen for them to make the playoffs came together instantly. Then they suddenly did everything they could to lock down the #5 seed. Bosa was coming back and even Slater would return had they got out of the first round.
Before the kickoff in Denver, the Chargers knew they had the #5 seed locked up. They had achieved the best seeding they could since they hadn't won the division. All the adversity they had endured seemed to make them stronger and now they were poised to go on a run.
Then Brandon Staley fucked it all up.
I have no idea if The Organization was really "aligned" or "connected" with this plan. As I sat typing into the Twitterverse that this was a bad idea, I had no idea what would come of it. I just knew that teams spend their entire season trying to get into the position the Chargers were. They basically got a bye week. No team besides KC had that in the AFC. We all know Williams' toughness AND his injury history.
The two go hand in hand. Not only did Staley play the starters deep into a meaningless game, he saw Williams get hurt on an awful Lombardi play call. He got hurt earlier in the year on a hopeless long pass. Whether you think the Chargers should have paid him all that money for one season, it was obvious he was the only deep threat this team had. Keenan Allen had one long catch that led to Josh Palmer's TD in the second KC game. Palmer sat down for a TD celebration that no one will remember because the defense couldn't hold Mahomes and Derwin was left to watch Kelce send us packing again.
Yes, KC gets calls. That's the reality. It didn't stop Cincy last year and won't stop Philly should they beat them next week. The only deep threat the Chargers had beyond Williams was Guyton and he also got hurt in a pointless play that had no hope of success or having any success.
During the bye week, Tom Telesco did nothing to upgrade our receivers and we saw Keenan Allen actually get more injured than when the Chargers started their mid-season break. Also, Jerry Tillery somehow became releaseable even though we all knew he needed to go for ages.
Telesco signed some guys who never played. Williams got hurt in Denver and Staley doubled and tripled down by playing every single key player on our team into the 3rd quarter. We could have been even more shorthanded for what was our only postseason game.
We know what happened next. We got a 27-0 lead and yes you could point to the Bandy jet sweep and say "that was the moment." No it wasn't. Like Kelly's fumble in Tampa in 2020, teams have these hiccups all the time. They later recover. They don't always implode. Had the Chargers gone up 34-0, they still could have lost that game.
Like that Tampa game, or the 24-0 lead they blew against Peyton Manning and the Broncos, it wasn't the result of great play. But they did get 5 turnovers. You need to finish off the team, even with Sayler out, and move on. The Chargers didn't. That's the story.
I don't know if Sean Payton is the answer or if Staley is the problem. I do know that Bosa's meltdown is sadly on-brand for him. I hate the Radiers, but Crosby calling him a crybaby isn't out of bounds. You could argue that Crosby was bitching about his holds vs the Rams in the aforementioned interview.
Speaking of bitching, you may have seen that I intimated that Ryan Leaf is sober but still not a nice guy. That was reinforced when he snapped at me like a child and his Roganesque followers did too. If you had told the 28 year old me that waited to get his autograph in 1999 that I would get into a fight with him online I would have said that seemed reasonable but not like that.
I have a feeling I'll be back talking about this soon. See you after the Super Bowl.
JIC,
RLW
Comments