The Chargers lost their second game in six days as they fell to the Chiefs, 31-17. While they held Kansas City to just one score in the second half, the offense faltered down the stretch. Brandon Staley’s defense adjusted a bit too late after getting dominated in the first half.
At his media availability, Staley spoke on the loss. In responding to a question on whether he expected the season to go this way, the Chargers’ head coach answered with this:
It’s frustrating. I can’t tell you why the season started this way, but it just, it is, and it’s no one’s responsibility but mine. We’ve got a good football team, and we just gotta go — we need to reset, this football team, we need to reset.
Staley also talked about defensive preparation and execution:
I didn’t do a good enough job of getting our team prepared to play…I thought in the second half, we made good adjustments and played better. But the damage was done in the first half.
On the offensive side of the ball, Staley mentioned that he felt a lack of rhythm in the second half:
We didn’t get into any rhythm in the second half…drives stalled out. We didn’t operate with any consistency in the second half.
Staley also said that turnovers must be taken advantage of when you play a team like Kansas City. Los Angeles’ offense did not score on either turnover committed by the Chiefs.
Staley’s tone sounded like a coach who knew he had to take licks for his team’s performance today. Generally, it feels like there is some pushback on points from him in media sessions, but he largely accepted the blame and responsibility for the loss.
As for the idea of a “reset,” as Staley mentions, it seems like an inopportune time for something large-scale to be reset with the team mid-season. The truth is that the bye was the time to reset for this team.
To this point, they still look like the same inconsistent team that entered the bye. The Chargers still have not put together a dominant first to fourth-quarter performance.
