Richard Sherman calls for Chargers to fire HC Brandon Staley at halftime of TNF blowout vs. Raiders
It looks more and more like the pink slip is coming soon for LA Chargers head coach Brandon Staley. The Chargers were getting embarrassed in every way imaginable in the first half of Thursday Night Football against the Las Vegas Raiders. The Raiders held a commanding 42-0 halftime lead, the largest halftime lead in Raiders’ franchise history. The historically bad start for the Chargers prompted analysts like Richard Sherman to call for Staley’s firing at halftime.
“This is one of the worst first halves I’ve seen from a team. It just looks like they’ve given up. They’ve packed their bags. They’ve packed all their suitcases. They’ve booked their vacations and they’re ready to go,” the former Stanford star said.
“Brandon Staley, I hate to say this, because you don’t ever want to call for somebody’s job. But they should fire him. They should make history. They should fire him at halftime. They should just hey, we’ve got an Uber X car pulled outside and we’ll send you on your way, because right now I’ve never seen a team come out this uninspired,” Sherman said.
The Chargers were obliterated and embarrassed in historic fashion on Thursday Night Football. It’ll certainly go down as one of the more humiliating defeats in league history. The Raiders whipped them 63-21, putting up a franchise record for points scored in a single game. Their previous franchise high was 59 points.
Staley was fired on Friday morning, December 15th along with Chargers GM Tom Telesco. For the time being, the franchise has named Giff Smith as their interim head coach and JoJo Wooden as their interim GM.
More information on Brandon Staley’s coaching career
Staley, 41, finished with a 24-24 record during his time in Los Angeles, and he only had one playoff appearance under his belt. His tenure started with a 9-8 mark in 2021 and he made his first playoff appearance in 2022 with a 10-7 record. That put the Chargers in the AFC Wild Card game, and they led the Jacksonville Jaguars 27-0 at one point.
However, that lead eventually evaporated, and Los Angeles eventually fell 31-30. That sent Staley into his third season with some criticism, and it didn’t seem to slow down considering the Chargers’ struggles — particularly on defense.
Los Angeles entered its Thursday Night Football matchup with the Las Vegas Raiders ranked 29th in total yards and passing yards allowed. Their defensive results were among the worst in the league the past three years. In 2022, the Chargers’ defense ranked 28th in yards allowed per game and in 2021, they ranked 29th.
Staley played quarterback at Mercyhurst College and got his coaching start as a graduate assistant at Northern Illinois before some time at the high school and JUCO levels. He then joined Tennessee as a graduate assistant in 2012 before stints with John Carroll and James Madison from 2014-16.
In 2017, Staley got his first NFL opportunity as the Chicago Bears’ outside linebackers coach under defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. He spent two years in Chicago before following Fangio to Denver to serve as the Broncos’ outside linebackers coach in 2019.
Then, Staley got his first NFL defensive coordinator opportunity with the Los Angeles Rams in 2020, leading a unit that ranked led the league in total defense. That helped get him the Chargers opportunity.
On3’s Nick Schultz also contributed to this article.