The Los Angeles Chargers suffered a disappointing loss to the Detroit Lions, giving up a whopping 533 net yards on defense.
This marked the most yards the Chargers had conceded since Week 1 against the Miami Dolphins.
Head coach Brandon Staley, however, took full responsibility for the team"s lackluster defensive effort that ultimately led to the loss.
“Yeah, I didn"t do a good enough job on defense for us today, that was the story," Staley said in his postgame news conference. “On run and pass, didn"t do a good enough job on the run game in the first half, and then in the second half there were far too many [explosive plays]. So I didn"t do a good enough job for us today."
Chargers HC Brandon Staley takes blame for 41 points allowed in loss to Lions: "I didn't do a good enough job" (by @coralasmith) https://t.co/mutz37iQdw pic.twitter.com/31jJX3AeV7
— Around The NFL (@AroundTheNFL) November 13, 2023
Going into the game, the Chargers had boasted one of the league"s best rushing defenses. However, the Lions challenged this by consistently resorting to the run and finding success against the Chargers.
The Lions" running back, Jahmyr Gibbs, managed to score two touchdowns in the first half alone, while David Montgomery contributed a remarkable 75-yard touchdown run.
Montgomery impressively bypassed several Chargers defenders, making his way up the middle, and then sprinting along the sideline into the end zone.
Collectively, Gibbs and Montgomery accumulated a 193 rushing yards, setting a new high for rushing yards allowed by the Chargers this season.
Even when the Lions began relying more on their passing game in the second half, the Chargers continued to struggle in stopping drives and limiting big gains, resulting in three touchdowns for Detroit out of their four second-half drives.
Sunday"s dismal defensive performance marked a departure from the seemingly improved efforts of the Chargers" defensive unit in recent weeks.
With the team getting healthier, they were able to hold the Bears to just 13 points and the Jets to a mere seven points in consecutive weeks, giving up less than 300 total yards in both games.
Unfortunately, the Lions presented a much tougher challenge with their 12th-ranked offense, and the Chargers couldn"t keep up.
“I thought that we played better the last two games. I thought today they came out and played with more energy in the first half, and it looked like a fresh team, and just didn"t do a good enough job against the run game in the first half. The 75-yard run leveraged missed tackles, and you give up a play like that it takes a lot of air out of you," Staley said. “And so, the story of the first half was the run game, and I thought we did some good things in the second half, but ultimately not good enough for us to get the stops when we needed to. It wasn"t a good day for us."
What made the loss even more frustrating was that it wasted a stellar performance by quarterback Justin Herbert and the offense.
Despite missing several key players, Herbert completed 27 of 40 passes for 323 yards, four touchdowns, and an interception.
His go-to receiver, Keenan Allen, had an outstanding outing with 175 receiving yards and two touchdowns. The Chargers managed to score on six of their nine drives.
However, with the Lions taking an early lead and the defense failing to make stops, the offense was constantly playing catch-up.
They managed to tie the game four times but couldn"t secure any more chances before time ran out.
Despite the disappointing loss, Staley remains confident in his defense"s potential to compete against the best teams in the NFL.
He is determined to regroup during the upcoming week of practice to get the team back on track before facing their next challenge.
“I know the players that we have on this team, I know the group that I"ve been coaching for nine games, and it is good enough to beat anybody we play," Staley said. “We"ve played the very best teams in the NFL, and we"ve been in every single football game. The very best teams in the NFL have been down to the wire. We"re 4-5, we"re still a work in progress. But we"ve got the right men in that group. … We"re going to go back to work, we"re going to stay together, we"ve got our season in front of us, and we"ve got to get on to Green Bay."
