Los Angeles Chargers head coach Brandon Staley. Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

Rex Ryan rips into Chargers’ Brandon Staley: ‘He should go back to Division III’

By Michael Gallagher | Last updated 11/21/23

Games aren’t the only thing Los Angeles Chargers head coach Brandon Staley is losing these days.

The contingency of people calling for Staley’s job is growing as the Chargers continue to pile up losses, and now, you can count former New York Jets and Buffalo Bills head coach-turned-NFL analyst Rex Ryan among them.

Following L.A.’s 23-20 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, Ryan laid into Staley during an appearance on ESPN’s “Get Up” for snapping on a reporter who asked him if he would continue to call the Chargers’ defensive plays.

Brandon Staley on if he will continue to call the Chargers plays on defense:

“You can stop asking that question. I’m going to be calling the defenses, okay? So we’re clear. So you don’t have to ask that again." pic.twitter.com/eno5OOSvOw
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) November 19, 2023

“What do I think of that? I think he should go back to Division III football where he belongs,” Ryan said. “Look, this guy. Look at his resume, man. I mean, I’m sorry. He spent one year coordinating a team that my wife could coach with Aaron Donald and all those guys. Stop it.”

If anyone knows about the pressures of coaching under pressure, it's Ryan. He took the Jets to back-to-back AFC Championship games in his first two seasons but had a below-.500 record in his final four years before getting fired. He joined the Bills the next year but was fired after going 15-16 in two seasons without a playoff appearance.

Forty-four games into Staley's tenure with the Chargers, he has just 23 wins and one ugly playoff defeat to show for it. L.A., which has won just two of its last six games, is 4-6 this season despite having the eighth-highest-scoring offense and the fourth-highest payroll in the NFL.

The Chargers are two games out of the AFC’s final playoff spot with seven games left on their schedule. Of those seven games, all but one are against teams either in or vying for a playoff spot.

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