Win is an inside joke
Empty stadium is only reason Chargers aren’t laughingstock of L. A.
From their opponents’ eight- yard line, the Chargers ran the ball.
With 22 seconds remaining in the half. Without any timeouts. Spiking the ball wasn’t an option, either, as the play call in question came on third down.
Anthony Lynn was unable to get their field- goal team lined up before the clock expired. The period ended with an illegalshift penalty and the Chargers down by a touchdown. You don’t see that every day. “Actually, they also did that two weeks ago,” remarked a chuckling Chargers beat writer two seats away in the socially distanced press box at SoFi Stadium.
The play said more about the Chargers than the final score on Sunday, 20- 17 in their favor over the equally lousy Atlanta Falcons.
The Chargers are the one- of- a- kind lastplace team that is worse than their 4- 9 record indicates, as a never- ending succession of on- field gaffes have threatened to turn them into football’s version of the Sterling- era Clippers.
About the only reason they haven’t become complete laughingstocks is because SoFi Stadium remains closed to the public. Imagine if it were open. With the four- win Falcons visiting, this 70,000seat architectural marvel would have been, what, half empty? Three- quarters empty?
They literally would have been booed off the field when they stunk up the joint in a 45- 0 loss to the New England Patriots.
The “Are- You- KiddingMe” finish to the first half against the Falcons would have elicited even more jeers.
“Let me tell you this, and I don’t want to elaborate on it, but you cannot run the ball in that situation,” Lynn said in a postgame videoconference.
Rookie quarterback Justin Herbert said the plan was to spike the ball after Kalen Ballage gained the yard necessary for a first down. Evidently, whoever called the play didn’t consider the possibility Ballage might be stopped short.
And that is what happened. The offense was still on the field when the fieldgoal team came on, resulting in a penalty.
But even if Ballage had reached the marker, the Chargers would have ultimately kicked a field goal, in which case the potential reward didn’t justify the risk.
The sequence cost the Chargers three points, which nearly cost them the game.
The score was tied until Herbert drove them down the field to set up Michael Badgley’s 43- yard field goal on the final play.
Lynn refused to reveal who called the play, but whether it was offensive coordinator Shane Steichen or someone else, the responsibility is the head coach’s. Lynn assumed control of special teams last week, but that is not an excuse.
“That’s an area where we have got to improve as a coaching staff communication- wise,” Lynn said. “And we will.”
Except mistakes such as this are being made on a weekly basis. A comeback win over another last- place team doesn’t change that.
While an in- house audience would have intensified the Chargers’ humiliations, it also would have provided the team’s tone- deaf owner with an extremely helpful barometer.
Whether it’s because of financial limitations, a misguided sense of loyalty or a lack of necessary courage to make changes, Dean Spanos is notoriously slow to make coaching changes.
Norv Turner lasted longer than he should have. So did Mike McCoy.
And as likeable as Lynn has proved to be over his four seasons with the Chargers, as respected as he is as a man, it’s clear they require new leadership. But Spanos’ history raises a legitimate question about whether Lynn could return next season.
Delaying the inevitable, even by a year or two, was something the Chargers could do in San Diego. They were the only show in town.
They don’t have that luxury here.
If Spanos hasn’t learned that, the fans would have informed him.
Every chorus of boos, every empty seat, every paper- bag mask would have served notice that change was required.
In Los Angeles, once a team is branded a joke, the label is hard to shake.
Look at the Clippers. They now have one of the best owners in professional sports, they successfully recruited Kawhi Leonard and the city still views them as losers.
The Chargers are moving in that direction, their brand gradually diminished with every cartoonish mistake. The harm isn’t beyond the point of repair, but the same pandemic that has limited their embarrassment could keep them from seeing and hearing the signs that they are about to be permanently scarred.