1-Man’s Opinion on Sports–Monday “CHARGERS-REALITY”
==============”CHARGERS–DOSE OF REALITY”
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The honeymoon is officially over. The losing has gotten to everyone affiliated with the Chargers.
Another game, that should have been a win, turns into another defeat, this one an appalling self-inflicted wounds type loss, in Tennessee to a Titans team that had an 8-game losing streak dating back to last year.
So the Chargers are now (0-2) this season, blowing leads two weeks in a row, this Sunday loss coming on the heels of the painful shootout loss last week to Miami.
And the glaring issues of last week, resurfaced in the Titans game. Not protecting the quarterback. Not stopping big pass plays down the field. And taking bad penalties.
And for the first time, an upset head coach Brandon Staley showed disdain to the media’s questions post game, coming unglued, coming out of character.
“How do you think those guys feel in the room” he lashed back at a question.
He grew even more uncomfortable with the next questions about losing games, losing leads, as far back as last year’s playoff loss to Jacksonville.
“The Jacksonville loss has not carried into this year, it has nothing to do with this year’
“It’s a convenient story for you, but it’s not the truth”. He said that twice in a row, as if the blowing 27-0 lead in the Jaguars that turned into a loss, and the lousy defensive secondary play against Miami and then the Titans were a mirage.
Nothing is fixed on defense from a year ago, not stopping the run, not making big pass plays.
And now you can add in 3-personal foul penalties that kept drives alive that eventually led to scores. Helmet hits, roughing the QB-fouls, a launching penalty. It’s not who the Chargers are, but rather what they’ve become.
They wasted a strong day from Joey Bosa, 2-sacks and a tackle for loss. They wasted 5-quarterback sacks on a streaky QB-Ryan Tannehill.
They had an 11-0 lead, had the Titans staggering, but could not put them away.
But they could not put the lid on running back Derrick Henry, a flashback to last year’s inability to stop anybody from running the ball. And Staley’s defense gave up two huge pass plays that ignited the offense and fueled the comeback.
And the Bolts could not pick up blitzes, were late getting out on the edge, and Justin Herbert took 3-more sacks too.
As Staley seethed at the tone of questioning, he knows the national media is going to continue to write about the coach,with a reputation of being a bright llight defensive guy, not being able to coach his team to play better on defense.
His career record is now (19-19) and the Bolts appear to be just another team in the NFL, unable to climb to the upper echelon despite the talents of QB-Justin Herbert, and a collection of go-to wide outs. Keenan Allen and Mike Williams combined to catch 16-balls on Sunday in the loss.
A strange Sunday for the teams in LA..Across the hallway, the Rams hosted the 49ers, and would have thought the game was in San Francisco’s stadium in Santa Clara. So-Fi Stadium was a ‘sea of red’ of crazy 49ers fans who roared as the Niners scored 17 points in a row in coming back against the Rams.
Yeah a real dose of reality. The Chargers head coach not getting the job done. And Rams fans bailing on their team looking at a second losing year in a row.
So much for the idea of ‘Bolt Up’….or the ‘Rams House’.
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It is easy to criticize fans for selling their tickets. But, the reality is the NFL has priced out fans. A savvy person gets season tickets and then resales 2 or 3 games and it offsets the cost. That is smart business, not bailing on your team.