NBC 7’s Derek Togerson reflects on the Chargers’ 24-19 loss to the Bengals in this commentary
I don’t know if Chargers head coach Mike McCoy is a big reader or not but there’s one literary classic he needs to take a look at: Strenuous Life by Theodore Roosevelt.
The 26th President of the United States of America was a man of action. One of the quotes from his book should be painted on the walls of the Chargers locker room. Or, at least tattooed on McCoy’s forehead:
“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”
Momentum in the NFL is real. It does not exist week-to-week, there are too many factors to take in to account for that to happen. But within the framework of a game momentum can be a pendulum. It can either swing a game in a team’s favor or bury it for the afternoon.
Momentum in sports is very likely a mental phenomenon. Anyone who has ever played anything, be it the Super Bowl or beer pong, has felt it. There’s a feeling you get when the event starts going your way (or against you). There’s no reason for it. There’s no explanation for it. There’s no predetermined length of time it lasts. But it exists.
On Sunday in Cincinnati, Chargers head coach Mike McCoy had a chance to seize the momentum and take control of a game. Instead he chose to make Teddy Roosevelt roll over in his grave. Coach McCoy did nothing.
Here’s the situation. At the end of the first half the Chargers were trailing the Bengals 14-6. With 1:16 left on the clock the Bengals were facing a 2nd and 10 when Giovani Bernard ran for six yards to his own 35 yard line. McCoy, who had two time outs, elected not to use one, allowing time to run off the clock. On 3rd and 4 Bernard was stopped for a 3-yard gain, bringing up 4th and 1 with about 40 seconds. Again McCoy chose not to call a time out, even as the Bengals ran their punt unit on to the field.
That punt unit sat there until the clock ran out on the first half. Instead of giving his Pro Bowl quarterback a chance to run a no-huddle offense and get a few points with a little more than a minute left on the clock McCoy sat idle. When I asked him why, his response was less than inspiring.
“I had a lot of confidence going in to our first drive (of the second half since the Chargers were getting the ball first after the break),” McCoy said.
I followed up asking why he didn’t let Rivers and the offense at least take a shot at the end of the half.
“I decided to do what I did,” said the head coach.
First, I have a problem with that line of thinking because it implies he does not have confidence in his offense at the end of the first half and that’s not exactly the kind of message you want to send to your team.
Second, that decision to do what he did was dumb. McCoy is well aware Rivers can make magic happen at the end of a half. He’s seen it with his own eyes.
Last October the Chargers had 55 seconds at the end of the first half and a first and 10 at their own 20 yard line. Just 41 seconds later Rivers hit Antonio Gates for a touchdown. Granted, the Chargers had two time outs that day but it’s still the kind of thing Philip can engineer. Plus rookie kicker Josh Lambo, although he missed a 47-yard field goal, has the leg to hit from 60. Had the Chargers even gotten three points it have made a world of difference in the strategy at the end of the game.
Now, we have no idea if the Chargers would have scored a touchdown, or a field goal, or muffed another punt, or had a pick-6. The frustration is that they didn’t get a chance to try. The message it sent to his team is something that harkens back to the Norv era; I just can’t stand the thought of you guys messing this up so we’re just going to lick our wounds. Not exactly the kind of motivational mental warfare that needs to be waged for a team to succeed in the NFL.
It’s not like he’s sending a rookie QB who’s already thrown three interceptions out there to the wolves. McCoy is always telling us how great a player Philip Rivers is. That was a situation where he needed to show us it’s not just lip service.
This is a pattern of behavior that is starting to get alarming. Lots of NFL coaches mismanage the clock near the ends of halves. Most of the time the problem stems from confusion or a lack of awareness. McCoy’s issues seem to be coming from calculated decisions. This is not the first time something like it has happened, and It's starting to get scary. Believing your best play is to keep the ball out of the hands of your best player is almost unconscionable.
Now I’m not advocating for McCoy to go Full Metal Rex Ryan and throw all caution to the wind. There are times when prudence is the proper path. Sunday in Cincinnati was not one of them.
