The Chargers fired head coach Brandon Staley on Friday after an embarrassing loss to the division-rival Raiders. Even before the firing, there was already plenty of speculation as to who the club’s next head coach would be, as it became increasingly clear that Staley would not be retained for the 2024 season. Now that Staley is officially out, that speculation has naturally ramped up.
Of course, legendary Patriots HC Bill Belichick has been rumored as a possible target for the Bolts, and Armando Salguero of Outkick.com acknowledges that the connection makes plenty of sense. The last three head coaches the club has hired were first-timers, and Salguero says the team wants a proven leader. Belichick certainly fits that description, and his hiring could generate excitement for a team that has struggled to create much of a connection to Los Angeles fans since moving from San Diego.
And assuming Belichick leaves New England at season’s end, he will not want to go to a rebuilding club or one without a top-flight quarterback. The two other teams who have fired their head coaches this year, the Raiders and Panthers, would not necessarily offer Belichick — who will turn 72 in April — the chance to win right away. The Chargers, on the other hand, have a Pro Bowl-caliber QB in place in Justin Herbert and a fair amount of talent on both sides of the ball, and as Salguero writes, the team wants to stop wasting Herbert’s prime years and wants to bring in a coach who knows how to maximize a signal-caller’s abilities.
However, Salguero hears that there is resistance to a Belichick pursuit within the organization, and one of the reasons for such resistance is the fact that Belichick would want to remake the franchise as he sees fit. That would include, perhaps, displacing president of football operations John Spanos, son of owner Dean Spanos. Salguero’s sources believe it is unlikely that Belichick would agree to leave the team’s current infrastructure in place and report to John Spanos, so the fit between Belichick and the Chargers may not be as perfect as it might appear.
Salguero also hears that Jim Harbaugh could be a more viable candidate for the post. A recent report said that a “Spanos family confidant” reached out to people connected to Harbaugh to gauge his interest, and while Harbaugh is rumored to want a great deal of control over football operations should he jump back into the professional ranks, Salguero believes the former 49ers HC may be more amenable than Belichick to keeping the Bolts’ current front office framework in place.
Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network (video link) says the Chargers’ job is a coveted one, primarily due to the presence of Herbert. He reports that the team will keep an open mind with respect to its impending HC search and will consider CEO-style coaches along with those who would double as the offensive or defensive coordinator. Rapoport names Cowboys DC Dan Quinn and Lions OC Ben Johnson — both of whom are expected to be among the hottest names in the 2024 hiring cycle — as realistic candidates.
Recent reports have suggested that there is mutual interest between Johnson and the Chargers, though it is worth noting that the 37-year-old has never served as a head coach before. Quinn, meanwhile, spent over five years as the Falcons’ head coach and came up heartbreakingly short of winning the franchise’s first Super Bowl during his second season at the helm.
Best possible outcome is Belichick goes to LA and wears cutoff tank tops. Ok, I’m in.
Washington and San Diego can fight over Bellichick and Tomlin. Let the bidding war begin!
I know that you’re ready for Tomlin to go, but I don’t think that the Rooneys are there right now. Tomlin seems to have a season’s worth of cushion at the minimum right now, minus the bottom absolutely falling out to grant him the first losing season in his career.
Home vs Bengals who have figured out how to score now without Burrow.
Road vs SEA and BAL.
Unless BAL rests starters, I really don’t see them taking 2 of 3 to finish over .500. Probably more likely they lose out…
That’s fair, Mr Goodkat (I still can’t figure out how to respond to comments in this new setup), but losing out may not mean bottoming out, exactly. If Pittsburgh is competitive or shows some form of execution, I think that Tomlin still has the benefit of the doubt. I could see the door cracked, though, which is a little more than it ever has been for him, and I think that has more to do with Pickett not taking the next step forward.
Right now, though, I think that he gets another year to try and fix the offense with a new coordinator.
The thing working against Coach MT is his contract. They need to extend him or let him go. Lame duck coaches don’t work. Could they sign him for two years with an option for a third? Sure.
Coach BB to LA for a first rounder. Sounds good to me.
I would want a first rounder from New England for taking him off their hands.
steelers will give you a 3rd round pick to take Tomlin insteadv
Harbaugh would be 1000x better than Belichick. Harbaugh has had success with QB’s not named Tom Brady, including turning Alex Smith from bust to good player and went to a Super Bowl with Kaepernick. Plus, he has more than a couple years left and probably wouldn’t totally change the culture to make everyone miserable.
Succeeding for the span of three years is a far cry from success g for twenty…that’s not to say that Belichick hasn’t contributed heavily to his own downfall, or that Harbaugh doesn’t have a lot to offer, but maybe there’s something also to be said for benefitting from a Singletary built defense and then jumping ship after the league figured out your one trick quarterback?
Probably the most overrated coach in the history of the NFL
OMG! Is Belichek a tool? Yes. Is he a control freak? Yeah of course. But most over rated ever? WTF is that? He was an amazing DC with the Giants, has won 6 rings on his own and 2 as a DC. Get the hell outta here with that crap! Dude is legendary. He hasn’t had a roster worth a s**t since Brady left. It’s not all bc TB12 wasn’t there. Quit hating
Yeah, Belichick has a lot of obvious flaws. Very obvious ones. But, with those considered, who are we picking to be charge of football, here: Bill Belichick, or John Spanos?
Waiting for the “none of the above” option.
. Team attractive but owner son too evolved . They will get co ordinator who three or four other teams interviewed but picked someone else. Chargers should be in Vegas and raiders in L.A.
The FBI and the LAPD would like a word with you.
That would be awesome! We could spend all offseason listening how great of a pairing Bill & Justin are together. Then when the season starts and they are a .500 team hear all of the excuses like every year for them. ‘Injuries, ref’s, O Line, toughest schedule!!’ to their rescue.
Any NFL club that hires Belichick as HC is consuming a supersized serving of Cheatriots Kool-Aid.
It’s funny to see the internet message board opinion of Belichick. But you ask Nick Saban or anyone who has coached and been around football forever and they would say the opposite.
And I don’t even like the Patriots. It’s funny to see them stink. But the guy is one of the best coaches ever. He did go 8-8 with Can Newton who couldn’t throw the ball. He’s paying for mistakes now but it doesn’t take away the 27-0’s against Houston with a third string QB. Won 11 games with Matt Cassell.
Please Chargers, say NO to Belichick! BB and Kraft deserve each other.
Sure, would be nice if the next LAC HC wasn’t either the typical status quo NFL owner hiring or another recycled coach from the same system that also decides who are backup QB’s.
Can we please stop reading about a teams #1 hire when the guy already works for another team. Has won 6 titles with the team and is one of the greatest of all time…. currently leading a dumpster fire to burn out. He needs to retire. Not move to the west coast and try to ignite a Chargers team that doesn’t even fit for a rebuild or a retool. Bad contracts and injury bugs don’t need another coach