JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Seven months ago, on a quiet offseason day in early June, I was sitting on a couch in Brandon Staley’s office at the Chargers facility in Orange County. I was there to interview the head coach…early on in the conversation, Staley’s words drifted to something broader, something more deep-seated — something that might seem intangible but has left real, permanent wounds for anyone associated with this franchise.

“The history of this team when I got here, it was like, someone’s going to get hurt, they’re going to blow a lead, something catastrophic is going to happen,” Staley said then. “There’s this Chargering, and there’s all these external factors that I know in my life, they’re just all excuses. They’re just all excuses. And so, all right, well, how do you change that? Well, you have to do things different. You have to have a different approach.”—Daniel Popper, The Athletic

Absolutely true. “Chsrgering”, “Clemsoning”, all just excuses.