In San Diego, there has long been a belief that the city’s sports teams have been afflicted by a curse.
None of the city’s major sports teams have ever won a world championship, whether it was the Super Bowl, NBA Finals, or the World Series.
Perhaps the most snake-bitten team there was the San Diego Chargers, who had a long series of misfortunes come playoff time, especially during the 2000s.
When they moved north and became the Los Angeles Chargers for the 2017 season, one may have thought they were about to get rid of their bad mojo now that they were in a city that owned (at the time) 11 NBA titles and five World Series wins, not to mention a Super Bowl victory by the then-Los Angeles Raiders in the 1983 season.
Instead, the Bolts and their fans have learned that a change of scenery isn’t enough to turn around one’s karma.
The proof came on Saturday when the team blew a 27-0 lead and lost in the final seconds to the Jacksonville Jaguars in a contest that resembled a slow-motion disaster.
Many fans are now calling for head coach Brandon Staley to be fired, yet it looks like he may still be on the sideline for L.A. next season.
#Chargers strongly considering keeping HC Brandon Staley, source tells @theScore. Staley makes in the neighborhood of $4M per season. There’s a chance however, he’ll have to make significant staff changes. Staley expected to meet w/ownership in near future. Internal talks ongoing
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) January 16, 2023
If this report is true, the Chargers will be making a big mistake.
If the Spanos family is serious about turning things around, not to mention endearing the organization to a market that has shown, at best, lukewarm support and passion, it needs to do something bold.
It needs to hire Sean Payton, the former New Orleans Saints coach who took them all the way in the 2009 season.
Payton helped maximize Drew Brees and kept the Saints competitive for most of his time there, and there have been rumors that he would be interested in coaching the Chargers.
Even better, reports have indicated that if Payton will return to the NFL, he would want to bring along Vic Fangio, who was the defensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers when they reached the Super Bowl 10 years ago.
Yes, making this happen would cost the Chargers some draft capital, but if Payton is the man to lead them out of the wilderness, they need to swallow their pride and give up what’s needed.
Los Angeles expects its sports teams to win big, and part of that is bringing in star power, including star coaches.
If the Chargers continue to skimp on head coaches, as they have done for years, the City of Angels may start to regard them with something approaching contempt.
