If Kellen Moore is a real HC candidate then the Chargers must fire Brandon Staley

The LA Chargers' 2023 season has not gotten off how the team would have hoped as the team is currently sporting a 2-4 record and is on the outside looking in when it comes to the NFL Playoffs.

After blowing a 27-0 lead in the AFC Wild Card Round last year, head coach Brandon Staley had very little room for error and now his seat is red-hot. Staley's own players seem to be out on him as a head coach, with many fans calling for the team to make a change.

Historically the Chargers do not make in-season coaching changes. The last time that the Chargers fired a head coach in-season was 1998 when the team fired Kevin Gilbride after six games. No matter how bad it has gotten since then, the Chargers have let head coaches finish out an entire season.

While history says one thing about what the Chargers will do, common sense says the Chargers should break free from the norm, especially considering who the team already has in the building. New offensive coordinator Kellen Moore has been circled as a potential Staley replacement and if the team really views him as such then it should waste no time getting Staley out of LA.

If Kellen Moore is a real head coach candidate then it is time to fire Brandon Staley

The Chargers waiting until the end of the season to fire Staley only to promote Moore in the offseason would be awful. That is not to say that Moore cannot be a good head coach, but that would be an example of the Chargers completely butchering the situation.

If Moore is actually being considered to replace Staley then the move needs to be made now that way Moore can get some games as the interim head coach under his belt. The Chargers can learn a lot about Moore if he is the interim head coach for 8-10 weeks of the season, and that will help the team during its eventual head coach search.

At this point it isn't about saving this season (although it would be nice if Moore could right the ship to that drastic of a degree). It would be about setting up for the future and giving Moore a runway to prove himself. If he crashes and burns, at least it will come in a season that is a wash and not when the stakes are higher.

While this makes the most sense, it still does not seem likely. If Staley goes so will general manager Tom Telesco, so the odds of Telesco firing Staley are slim to none. The only way this would happen would be if ownership stepped in and completely cleaned out, firing both Staley and Telesco.

The team could theoretically operate with Moore as the head coach and with Alex Spanos controlling the football operations. But as we have seen over the last 25 years, ownership has shown no urgency to make a move like this in-season.