The LA Chargers are currently in the playoff hunt as they look to be one of the final 14 teams playing for the Super Bowl in Brandon Staley's first season as head coach. This is fantastic for Charger fans as the Bolts actually had meaningful games to play in December and January for the first time since 2018. They still have to get the job done and beat the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 18 but this is still much better than last year.
At this time last year Charger fans were talking about who was going to be the next head coach of the team. Anthony Lynn was coming off of a terrible season full of weird roster decisions and poor clock management and despite his contract extension, it was clear that the team had to move on. Anthony Lynn was officially fired on January 4, which will be a year tomorrow (at the time of writing this).
There are several NFL teams that are going through the same situation right now, although any potential firings have been moved back a week with Week 18 being added to the schedule. And as the old saying goes...
One team's trash could be the LA Chargers treasure
While the Chargers coaching staff has been really solid this season, there is one thing that the Bolts could add for the 2022 season: a true defensive coordinator. While Brandon Staley had a ton of success as the defensive coordinator of the LA Rams, he has more on his plate as a head coach and his defense has suffered as a result.
Renaldo Hill has the defensive coordinator title but Staley calls the plays on defense. The Chargers have a bottom-tier defense and are the worst team in the league on third down. They allow the seventh-most points per game.
The Chargers do not need to rebuild the defense and the defensive identity, not at all. However, as a young head coach, Staley could really benefit from bringing in someone with experience that can take some of the defensive responsibilities to help execute Staley's defensive vision while also allowing him to focus more on his head coach duties. As far as Hill, he could either be assigned a new title with the coaching staff or let go.
Just because a coach didn't work out as a head coach does not mean they cannot be a good defensive coordinator, especially while working together with a defensive-minded head coach. These two NFL coaches are probably going to be fired in the coming weeks and the Chargers could have a spot for them on the staff.