As ESPN.com's Kris Rhim reminded readers, after losing to the Baltimore Ravens in Week 12, head coach Brandon Staley dismissed the idea that his messaging wasn't getting across to his players.
"In one of these games, you'd get blown out of the stadium," Staley said, "and that hasn't happened."
On Thursday, his team was down 42-0 at halftime, their worst deficit in franchise history, to a Raiders team that hadn't scored a touchdown in two weeks, was missing their Pro Bowl running back and starting a rookie quarterback that the Chargers sacked seven times in Week 4.
This Chargers season already seemed lost after quarterback
Justin Herbert suffered a season-ending broken right index finger last week in Sunday's loss to the Denver Broncos. Thursday night's 63-21 loss was the exclamation point.
As NFL.com's Eric Edholm pointed out, there might have been some gentle buzz in football circles for
Easton Stick's first start since North Dakota State (where he went 49-3), but that was quickly doused.
The offense went three-and-out on the opening drive, and Stick fumbled on the next possession. Things turned ridiculous when Josh Kelley coughed it up on the first play of drive No. 3. The Raiders went up, 21-0, before some fans found their seats, and it put Stick in nearly a no-win spot.
The pass rushers pinned their ears back. The defensive backs squatted on the short stuff. Down, 35-0, the Chargers tried desperately to score before the half and get some kind of evaluation on Stick, to whom they might not be wedded. But
Austin Ekeler was stuffed on a fourth-and-1 run at midfield (and the Chargers were guilty of offensive offsides, hilariously), and the Raiders made it 42-0 at half. Stick hit
Josh Palmer on a 79-yard strike to temporarily stop the bleeding, but that was about the only highlight Stick could hang his hat on.
He lost a fumble on a sack, with the scoop and score putting the Raiders up, 56-7. Edholm added Stick's final passing line (23 of 32, 257 yards, three TDs) doesn't look too bad to the naked eye, but the bulk of his production came down six TDs and his two lost fumbles and a late pick-six were killers.
It should be noted the Chargers were missing a few of their stars in wide receiver
Keenan Allen and Herbert, so a poor offensive performance would make sense. But a 42-point loss to a Raiders team missing almost the same amount of weapons and with an interim coach and general manager is unjustifiable.
The real question here is whether Staley keeps his job.
Rhim notes that Chargers coaches have escaped embarrassing losses before. The Anthony Lynn-led Chargers lost 45-0 to the New England Patriots in Week 13 of his fourth season. The Chargers didn't fire Lynn until the end of the season. The Chargers have only fired one coach midseason in franchise history, when they severed ties with Kevin Gilbride in 1998.
Could an embarrassing loss in prime time change how the Spanos family has approached coaching changes?
Next up, the Chargers host the Bills next Saturday.