Coach Brandon Staley says Chargers have star power to provide L.A. ‘Showtime’

Just five games into his head coaching career, Chargers coach Brandon Staley is earning a reputation for having interesting, insightful news conferences.

On Monday, he was asked about the Chargers ’ growing appeal in Los Angeles as the team has opened the season 4-1 with four one-score games and plenty of late drama.

The question invoked the “Showtime” Lakers, who were one of the NBA’s all-time most entertaining teams.

Staley’s response:

“I think that most people that watch the game like to see a lot of people touch the ball. They want to see that continuity where it’s not just one person that’s dominating the ball. They want to see a team that can score a lot of different ways.

“And then I think people show up for stars in pro sports. Our team has a lot of them in terms of guys that the average fan is going to say, ‘That person stands out to me.’ We have them in all three phases in the game.

Chargers

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Oct. 11, 2021

“The last thing that people are going to show up for is playing [like] a complete team. We want to have a team that’s capable of beating people a lot of different ways.

“That’s what you got to have, ultimately, because as much as you want to talk about ‘Showtime,’ it’s like you need ‘Showtime’ and then you need people that can stop people. What we’re trying to do is be able to win the game a bunch of different ways because that’s what great teams do. …

“Yesterday, that was a track meet. So, ‘OK, can you win a track meet? ... Yeah, yeah. We can win a track meet.’ We can also win a low-scoring game. We can hold really good offenses down. …

“We’re still at the beginning. But what I would tell you is that Chargers fans — through five games — have seen us play five real football teams. So they’ve got a pretty accurate look at where we’re at so far. … Hopefully, they’re going to be showing up even more because we’ve got some people that you want to root for.”