Chargers coach Brandon Staley says he never thought job was in jeopardy

COSTA MESA — Brandon Staley delivered a one-word answer near the end of his 40-minute, season-ending session with reporters Wednesday. No, he said he never believed his job as the coach of the Chargers was in jeopardy after their second-half collapse in Saturday’s AFC wild-card game.

Staley said the first half of the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars showed precisely how the Chargers were capable of playing at a remarkably high level, fulfilling the expectations of so many inside and outside of the organization while building a 27-0 lead by the second quarter.

However, he also said the second half of the game revealed how much improvement still must be made if the Chargers are to be considered an elite team in the NFL year after year, a franchise capable of overcoming obstacles, opponents and the odds to win a Super Bowl championship.

Clearly, it’s now Staley’s task in the days and weeks and months to come to bridge the gap between the two halves of their 31-30 loss to the Jaguars, something he failed to do Saturday. To be sure, the Chargers improved in his second season on the job, but there is still work to be done.

Plenty of it.

“We have to take full ownership,” he said. “You don’t want to be in denial of what happened. You don’t want to look away and say, ‘Hey, we’re moving on and we’re not looking back.’ Hey, you have to take full responsibility for that because in all three phases, coaching and playing, it wasn’t good enough.

“Starting with me.”

Staley, 40, stressed his confidence in the steps he and the Chargers have taken in his two seasons as coach, his first two years as an NFL head coach after serving as an assistant with the Rams, Denver Broncos and Chicago Bears. He also stressed the need for continued improvement.

Repeatedly.

He said it was one of the reasons he fired Joe Lombardi as his offensive coordinator and Shane Day as his passing game coordinator/quarterbacks coach on Tuesday, two moves that indicated in no uncertain terms that he would be back for a third season as the Chargers’ head coach.

Staley’s next hire for the offensive coordinator must deliver a more balanced attack between the running and passing games, something Lombardi failed to achieve this past season. The running game must be mixed better with Justin Herbert’s outstanding passing abilities.

Staley didn’t give a timetable for hiring the replacements for Lombardi and Day, but indicated a search would be thorough. The two new hires must also mesh well with the strong-armed Herbert, who is due for a hefty contract extension that could keep him with the Chargers for many years to come.

“I think there’s a different gear we can get to offensively,” Staley said.

How the Chargers would get there was the subject of much debate after Saturday’s meltdown, with many pointing fingers at Staley after the Jaguars overcame the third-largest deficit to win a playoff game in league history. Fans were not satisfied with an improved regular-season record, from 9-8 to 10-7.

For many on social media, it wasn’t that the Chargers lost the wild-card game.

It was how they lost it.

Making the playoffs for the first time since the 2018 season wasn’t enough.

Chargers fans weren’t content.

“I think we definitely improved as a franchise this season,” Staley said. “We took a step as a franchise. We earned ourselves a spot in the tournament. I think I’m as frustrated as anybody who is a Chargers fan over what happened because there’s no one who’s investing as much as we are in what happened.

“In the first half of that football game, you saw the very best of our team. In the second half, you saw the places we need to improve.”