The Brandon Staley and Tom Telesco era is over in Los Angeles.
The Chargers fired Staley and Telesco on Friday following the team’s 63-21 loss to the Raiders.
The interim coach and general manager will be announced later today, per the team’s official release.
This is the first time Dean Spanos fired a coach midseason since 1998 when the team moved on from Kevin Gilbride, replacing him with June Jones.
Staley departs after posting a 24-24 record in the three seasons, including a 0-1 record in the only season he made the playoffs in 2022. Telesco spent 11 years as the team’s general manager. Los Angeles was 84-92, with three playoff appearances in that span.
Parting ways with Staley would have made sense after last year’s historic loss to the Jaguars in the postseason. Los Angeles gave him another shot, and things didn’t get any better.
As for Telesco, he brought in top-end players but the depth consistently was lacking, thus never leading to success on the field.
Staley was hired back in 2021 after overseeing the league’s best defense when he was the Rams defensive coordinator in 2020.
Despite being touted as a defensive guru and investing heavily in premium players, that side of the ball remained the weak link since his arrival.
It was on full display as the Chargers allowed the most points in franchise history on Thursday, which was the last straw for Staley.
This season, Los Angeles is 29th in total yards allowed and passing yards allowed and 27th in points allowed.
Beyond the underachieving defenses, Staley was at the helm for a multitude of late-game meltdowns, head-scratching in-game decisions and injuries to big-name players.
In Staley’s three seasons with the Chargers, of the 24 losses, 16 games had been lost by a touchdown or less, with 12 of those decided by three points or fewer.
The Bolts have appeared in the playoffs just three times over the past ten years, have not won the AFC West division since 2009 and last made the AFC championship game following the 2007 season.
