The Los Angeles Chargers made a few personnel decisions in their Week 18 loss to the Denver Broncos that left some fans and analysts wondering what the team was thinking ahead of the playoffs.
Wide receiver Mike Williams went down with a back injury in the game, and speculation abounds that edge defender Joey Bosa may have aggravated a groin injury he suffered earlier in the season. Linebacker Kenneth Murray left the game after suffering a stinger.
For his part, though, Staley didn’t make excuses on Monday in his comments to reporters about his decision to play his starters on Sunday.
“Those decisions are mine — obviously, we’re collaborating with our coaching staff, front office and ownership,” Staley explained of the choice he made to play his starters. “I think that yesterday is an example of the tough side of the NFL, of balancing competition, and then keeping your team as healthy as possible going into the playoffs, and trying to build a culture within a football team and an organization in how you want to do things. We were trying to strike that balance yesterday. I think that our guys did a good job with it. We’ll learn a lot from it and keep getting better as we go.”
Fortunately, Williams’ MRI showed no fracture or muscle injury in his back, and it is just a contusion, which means that Williams is expected to return to practice at some point this week and should play. The same applies to Bosa and Murray, who are fine and should play this weekend against the Jaguars.
Had the availability of those starters become impacted, Staley would have faced even tougher questions to answer as to why he played his starters for as long as he did.