There is a lot of excitement around the LA Chargers heading into the 2021 NFL season. The Chargers were one of the most disappointing teams in football last season but have the talent to truly take the NFL by storm in 2021.
While the Chargers have not won a playoff game since 2018, some are dubbing this team as a Super Bowl dark horse. If you are a Charger fan who is plugged into the media you have heard this before. For some reason, the Chargers are always an interesting dark horse team that falls short of expectations.
However, this year it is legit. I know there are fans out there that want to see the product on the field before jumping on the dark horse train and that is completely fine. The entire definition of a dark horse, though, is a team that unexpectedly succeeds. Saying a team is a dark horse is not the same as predicting a Super Bowl run.
Why the LA Chargers are a legitimate Super Bowl dark horse:
1. The coaching
Granted, Brandon Staley has not coached a single game as a head coach in the NFL and there is a lot of new faces in the coaching staff to implement a new culture on the team. That does not mean this coaching staff is set up for failure.
Staley has been saying all the right things and truly does seem to have a special football mind. Who was the last young head coach that we were saying this about? Sean McVay. This is not Andrew Gase with his googly eyes, this is a polished individual who has had tremendous success as a coordinator and really seems to get it.
Just look at how big of a difference good coaching makes. The Rams went from a mediocre team to a playoff team and then a Super Bowl team because of McVay, all with Jared Goff as the quarterback.
Is Staley guaranteed to be a success story? Absolutely not, but when people outside of the Chargers circle are taking notice of him then that probably is saying something. There is a reason why he is a favorite to win the Coach of the Year award, after all.