The Chargers were a frustratingly fun team to watch this season.
Rookie quarterback Justin Herbert is a bonified star who kept the team in contention every week, but when the end of the game came around, the Chargers seemed to wilt and blow another winnable game. It’s a curse that plagued the team all season, and it’s one that they didn’t deserve.
Unfortunately, that curse played its final hand as the team decided to part ways with head coach Anthony Lynn, and that’s a fate that he didn’t deserve either.
Lynn is a well-respected man and coach, and once they get healthy and give Herbert another year under center, they have a real chance of bouncing back and challenging for the AFC West title. But they’ve chosen to do it without the coach who led them to a 33-31 record during his four-year tenure with the Chargers.
It’s not a fair fate for a man who led the team to a 12-4 record and the playoffs two seasons ago. But this season they seemed to have the worst luck, particularly in close games against good teams, a failure that contributed to Lynn’s release.
In week two they had the Chiefs on the ropes in their home opener, leading by a field goal with 2:27 left in the game. But Kansas City tied it up and won in overtime, 23-20, on a 58-yard field goal.
The next week they welcomed the Panthers to SoFi Stadium, and it was another heartbreaking loss. The Chargers were down 21-10 when they engineered a long drive and score to get the game to 21-16 (they failed to convert the ensuing two-point conversion). They got the ball back with under two minutes left, drove all the way down to the Panthers’ 28 yard line and ultimately fell short.
Then they traveled to Tampa Bay to face Brady and the Bucs. The Bucs lead by 7 with under three minutes remaining, but L.A. couldn’t pull off the comeback, falling 38-31.
Over a six-game stretch after their bye week, the Chargers went 2-4, losing those four by a total of 24 points, which includes a hard-fought overtime loss to the NFC South-leading New Orleans Saints. The Bolts played relatively well and had been in every game, but they couldn’t seem to finish things off in the closing moments. The only exception was the seventh game after their bye in which the Patriots spanked them 45-0. Ironically, the team came together and won their last four games after that Patriot rout, something which should have given Lynn a lifeline for 2021.
Sadly, that did not come to pass.
Some criticized Lynn for his decision making, and rightfully so as he made some head-scratching ones this season. In their 27-17 loss to the Bills, he made poor decisions on two different series towards the end of the game and allowed precious time to tick off the clock before taking a time out that should obviously have been taken much sooner.
But that same problem of time management once plagued Andy Reid, and look at him now.
The Chargers have a good young nucleus to build upon, starting with the aforementioned Herbert, a franchise quarterback who developed faster than anyone could have imagined. Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Hunter Henry, and Austin Ekeler provide him with solid weapons to work with, especially when they’re healthy. They have a good defense, anchored by Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram, and with the 13th pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, they’ll either be able to get some more protection for Herbert or draft another young playmaker on defense to pair with current rookie Kenneth Murray Jr.
This team, and Anthony Lynn, could have learned from their mistakes and figured out how to win the close games next season. A few key plays and this team could easily have been 9-7 or 10-6 instead of 7-9. They’re not in a rebuilding stage as they have talent, especially at key positions. Yet despite this strong foundation, the team decided it was time to move in a new direction, depriving Lynn of the opportunity to coach a healthy team with a franchise quarterback next season.
Instead of firing him, they should have treated Anthony Lynn like Biggie and given him one more chance.
