Former 3x All-Pro running back Maurice Jones-Drew discussed the Chargers' ahead of their matchup with Buffalo on NFL GameDay.
Jones-Drew, often referred to by his initials "MJD," provided some good rationale for suggesting that the Bolts should hire an offensive-minded head coach, as opposed to a defensive one.
MJD remarked how a statistical analysis pointed out that over the last 5 seasons, offensive coordinators that were hired as head coaches have had a winning percentage of over .500, while defensive coordinators have had a winning percentage of .381. These translate to offensive coordinators winning over half of their games as HCs, while defensive coordinators win just 38%.
This is especially key to note given how successful these OCs have been at orchestrating top offenses, as taking a look at Indianapolis, Miami, and Houston, these coaches have had a track record of creating more from less – maximizing on the talent that they have and outperforming expectations.
Contrarily, defensive coaches – taking Matt Eberflus (or, of course, Brandon Staley) for example, require top defensive personnel to orchestrate top groups. The Chargers, however, don't have a top group, and are quite a few pieces away from putting that together.
Even if the defensive hire makes the most of the talent the Bolts have, the unit is likely to peak somewhere around the top 10, not inside the top-5, or anything groundbreaking.
Bottom line, it's easier to coach an offense to exceeding expectations than a defense. This makes hiring an offensive coach much easier than a defensive one, especially as the Chargers look to learn from the Brandon Staley mistake.
The offense, however, given the pedigree of Justin Herbert, Rashawn Slater, and Keenan Allen, can easily be amongst the league's best, as it was in 2021.
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