Russini: What I’m hearing in NFL Week 15 on the league coaching carousel and

Brandon Staley pulled into the Los Angeles Chargers practice facility on Friday morning on very little sleep, if any at all. He knew what was coming. Heck, we all did. If you watched a few highlights, maybe saw the box score, or even caught the game Thursday night, you probably made the same face my 2-year-old made when he tried his first lemon last summer.

The entire thing was sour.

The Raiders broke the Chargers in Las Vegas in a game that could be seen in every Amazon Prime household, and Staley’s seat was no longer hot, it was in flames.

Around 8 a.m. Friday, he walked into owner Dean Spanos’ office, and after a brief conversation, he was fired. Chargers general manager Tom Telesco was let go as well. It was a startling fall for Staley, who ascended the NFL coaching ladder with exceptional ambition. The 41-year-old had one of the quickest rises in the history of the NFL. Four years after being an NCAA Division III defensive coordinator, he transformed the Los Angeles Rams’ defense remotely over Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic and coached it into the No. 1 defense in the NFL. After just one season as the Rams’ defensive coordinator and play caller, teams like the Chargers and Philadelphia Eagles were competing to hire him. Owners all wanted “the defensive Sean McVay.”

The Chargers won him. They thought they were getting a supernova, a football savant.

Maybe it was all too much, too fast.

Three years ago, there were a lot of coaches around the football world asking how did a guy coaching small college football get the coveted job of guiding quarterback Justin Herbert and the Chargers after only one season as an NFL coordinator? There was a belief around the league that Staley was underperforming from Day 1 because it’s thought that Herbert is so good, how can the Chargers not win big in their division? And how are they not in the playoffs every year?

Despite this rise that defied conventional wisdom, Staley was never known for exuding a lot of humility. From some of his answers at news conferences to some around the league believing his entire perspective was a little too cocky, the Staley vision never took. In fairness to Staley, he’s not the only arrogant coach who flamed out in these circumstances. I’ve had several conversations with general managers over the years who have shared with me that they want their coaches to be self-assured, and scores of accomplished coaches are having their agents hit up the Spanos family pitching them that they can be the one to draw out Herbert’s talents.

Dean Spanos said in his official statement following the announcement of the firings that the Chargers “need a new vision.” A short time later, a coach who wants the job texted me, “Give me Justin Herbert, and I’ll show them that vision.”

If Herbert is truly a transcendent player, it’s time for him to show it. That will be his…