Chargers' Brandon Staley on fourth-down decision in win vs. Vikings: 'I make no apologies for that'

Chargers head coach Brandon Staley is well known for his devil-may-care approach.

It almost cost Los Angeles a 28-24 win Sunday against the Vikings.

Staley made one of the boldest calls of his head-coaching tenure with a four-point lead over Minnesota and 1:51 remaining in the contest, dialing up a fourth-and-1 run by Joshua Kelley from L.A.'s 24-yard line.

The play-call failed. Fortunately for Staley, the Chargers defense did not. The unit held strong for seven plays to absolve its head coach of blame for a loss and deliver the Bolts' first win of the season.

"It was fourth down and less than a yard," Staley explained in his postgame news conference. "They had no timeouts. And I believe in our offense. I believe in our offensive line, our tight ends, our quarterback. I felt like we had a good play for what they would be in, and it didn't go down. We were protecting four points, not three.

"If it was a three-point play it would have been a different decision. I felt like our defense could play the way it did down the stretch. Again, I've got full confidence in our group. It's your job as a head coach to make sure your team knows you have belief in them. We came here to win. It was a tough road game against a team that made the playoffs, so we were trying to go win the game. I make no apologies for that."

Staley might see little downside to going for the throat rather than shifting the Vikings, without any timeouts, back to their own side of the field via a punt. He might feel the message of belief he sent to his squad was needed while sitting at 0-2.

The point remains, though, that he essentially forced his defense into a red-zone drill to prevent Los Angeles from falling into an even deeper hole to begin the year.

Such a