Chargers' HC Brandon Staley snaps at reporters again, blames their 'imagination'

Brandon Staley's seat has gotten hotter and hotter as the 2023 season has dragged along. The losses are starting to pile up for the Chargers, who saw their playoff dreams officially die in Week 12 with a loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

As the season has gone along, Staley has shown that some of the pressure has been getting to him. After an ugly loss to the Green Bay Packers in Week 11, Staley snapped at reporters for questioning his defense and whether or not he could continue being the defensive playcaller.

Sunday night's press conference following his team's loss to the Ravens was much tamer. However, that grace period would not last forever, as Staley once again snapped at reporters the following day while fielding questions about Quentin Johnston, via ESPN's Kris Rhim (to view the entire screengrab, click the post below).

Chargers HC Brandon Staley is getting snappy with reporters again

This all stems from Staley's post-game press conference on Sunday night in which he said that Johnston was medically cleared even though he did not return to the game. Staley was given the opportunity in said press conference to clarify if it was a coach's decision or a medical staff decision and it made it clear that it was his call.

With Johnston's struggles, and no other context to go off of based on Staley's comments, it was fair to say that Johnston was benched down the stretch. It wasn't until Staley clarified in further detail on Monday that it became clear that he was cleared, but still was not 100%.

Staley can get snippy with reporters all he wants but it is his job in those press conferences to communicate what he is trying to communicate. He did a poor job of communicating the Johnston situation after the Ravens game and he has nobody to blame but himself. These reporters aren't creating something out of their "imagination" (Staley's words, not mine).

Plus, it is worth mentioning that there have been countless other players who have played through injuries this season. Not giving Johnston a go when the likes of Keenan Allen and Joey Bosa have toughed through seemingly more significant injuries is at least somewhat telling.

But then again, maybe the Chargers learned their lesson from trotting Joshua Palmer out there in a very winnable game against the Chicago Bears only to worsen his injury. Either way, this doesn't fall on the reporters who simply reported what Staley said after the game.