Brandon Staley makes best argument yet for Chargers to hire Sean Payton

Brandon Staley’s handling of personnel in the Chargers regular-season finale may have given LA reason enough to let him go and pursue Sean Payton.

Does Brandon Staley want to win a playoff game? Does he want to keep his job?

If the answer to either of those questions is yes, then Staley did a bad job of showing it on Sunday as the Chargers took on the Broncos in a meaningless game.

Staley decided to give his most important first-teamers run for more than three quarters and he paid the price with key playmakers like Mike Williams, Joey Bosa and others suffering injuries.

Williams, the star wide receiver, had to be carted off the field.

Staley played with fire regarding his quarterback, Justin Herbert, as well. The QB played well into the fourth quarter, taking hits that he shouldn’t have needed to take in a meaningless game.

Brandon Staley gave Chargers incentive to go after Sean Payton

The head coach took a beating on Twitter.

And more than a few people brought up the idea of Staley giving the Chargers incentive to fire him and grab Sean Payton while they can.

Staley’s mismanagement was clear even before the game.

The Chargers had just four active wide receivers, including starters Williams, Keenan Allen and Joshua Palmer, while listing Michael Bandy as inactive. Running back Isaiah Spiller was inactive when he could have taken the load off Austin Ekeler. QB Easton Stick was inactive when this would have been the perfect opportunity to get him some live reps.

LA had gone with four active WRs in many previous games this season but none of those were dead rubbers like this one with maximum incentive to protect the starters.