Ranking every Chargers head coach since the turn of the century

2. Brandon Staley - 17-14, one playoff appearance

Here is the hot take of the entire article. There are naturally going to be a lot of Chargers fans reading this that heavily disagree with Brandon Staley being ranked second ahead of Norv Turner. While it is absolutely understandable because of some of Staley's gaffes, there are still some positives about his two years that get lost in the shuffle.

We already dove into some of the dings on Turner's resume that kept him as No. 3 instead of jumping to No. 2 on this list. So why does Staley get the benefit of ranking second despite not having as many playoff experiences or as high of a winning percentage?

Staley took over an absolute disaster after the 2020 season. While he got the benefit of taking over an elite young quarterback, both the roster and the organization were a mess. Tom Telesco was hiring Staley to not only win right away but to change the culture of the team.

And for the most part, he has done just that. The Chargers fell one game short of making the playoffs in his first year as head coach and still finished with a winning record. It definitely goes against him, but if the Chargers don't contract a covid-19 outbreak and lose to the Houston Texans late in the season then Staley would have made the playoffs in both years as head coach.

Plus, while he made some questionable decisions throughout the season, the Chargers also won several games in 2021 because of Staley's aggressiveness. Without that, the 2021 Chargers would have been a six-win team.

Then he overcame the worst injury luck in the entire league to get hot late in the season and win 10 games to make the playoffs in 2022. The 27-0 blown lead is a huge knock on his resume but Chargers fans should feel confident about Staley moving forward.

As bad as it has gotten at times, ranking him at No. 2 might not be a hot take anymore after the 2023 season.