Chargers miss postseason in recent 2023 season prediction

No playoffs in 2023 would likely spell the end of Brandon Staley and Tom Telesco’s time with the Chargers.

I’ve done a decent amount of radio the past few weeks giving my two cents on the Chargers, their prospects for the 2023 season, and my overall thoughts on the coaching staff and how I see things shaking out as we inch closer and closer to opening night.

For what it’s worth, I have the Chargers repeating their 10-7 record from 2022 and making the playoffs once again. However, I’m not ready to guarantee a playoff win. That’s ultimately troublesome because I believe anything short of a playoff victory this season spells the end of both Tom Telesco and Brandon Staley’s time in Los Angeles.

With the season beginning in just two days, we’re starting to see a lot of record predictions and of course we’re here to share one with you.

CBS Sports John Breech recently took to predicting every record in the NFL while also giving one bold prediction for each of the eight divisions. If you’re a true-and-tried Chargers super fan, you might want to look away.

Per Breech, he has the Chargers finishing with a 9-8 record to regress in Staley’s third year. The bold prediction is that he predicts the Chargers to miss the playoffs, just like they did in 2021. He still has them second in the AFC with the Broncos third (8-9) and the Raiders (6-11). The Chiefs are atop for another year at 12-5.

Here’s everything Breech had to say about his bold prediction:

“Since the arrival of Brandon Staley in 2021, the Chargers have been on the cusp of greatness, but they haven’t quite been able to get over the hump and I think that’s mainly because someone cursed this franchise to never get over the hump. They are the Sisyphus of NFL franchises. If you didn’t take a Greek mythology class in college, that’s the guy who rolls the ball up the hill but never actually makes it to the top. That’s the Chargers. They are perpetually rolling the ball up the hill, only to have it continually roll over their hopes and dreams on its way back down the hill. The last time we saw them on the field the Chargers were blowing a 27-0 lead to the Jaguars in the playoffs and I feel like that loss could lead to a hangover in 2023. Not a bad hangover, but just nagging enough that they take a lot of Advil and miss playoffs.”

We’ve been over it before on here but I’ll say it again: There is just no way Tom Telesco survives to hire his fourth head coach while only making the playoffs twice in an 11-year span. After the way the 2022 season ended, Staley is more than likely also tied to Telesco. That, however, I’m not a fan of.

The Chargers need to provide consistency for Justin Herbert at quarterback and the firing of Staley could also mean the firing of Kellen Moore. Would the Chargers really force Herbert connect with a seventh different offensive coordinator in eight years, dating back to his time at Oregon? It simply doesn’t make sense.

For his sake and the mental health of the fan base, I truly hope we’re not searching for a new coach, and front office, five months from now while the team should be looking to build off another successful campaign.