SAN DIEGO – For the second time this season, San Diego Chargers coach Mike McCoy benched running back Melvin Gordon for his fumbling issues.

Gordon fumbled twice against the Denver Broncos, losing a fumble in the third quarter when linebacker Von Miller stripped him. Gordon has fumbled six times this season, losing four of them.

“You can’t put the ball on the ground,” McCoy said when asked why he benched Gordon in the second half. “You’re not going to play if you put the ball on the ground.”

Chargers rookie Melvin Gordon has fumbled six times this season, losing four, and ball securit has kept him to limited carries. AP Photo/Denis Poroy

Certainly, Gordon has to do a better job of securing the ball in tight quarters. But essentially sending the rookie running back to sit in the corner for bad behavior is a microcosm for everything that is wrong with McCoy’s regressive coaching style.

Whether you agree with the organization selecting a running back in the first round or not, the Chargers’ brass moved up two spots to take Gordon with the No. 15 overall pick, giving up a fourth rounder in this year’s draft and a fifth rounder in the 2016 draft to get him.

Yet the system that McCoy implements on offense has not put Gordon in the best position to succeed, and punishing the University of Wisconsin product for fumbling by taking him out of the game is not fixing the problem, or helping to build the confidence of a first-year player attempting to get comfortable in a new system.

While Gordon’s fumbles have resulted in lost scoring opportunities, opposing defenses have not turned them into points.

Quarterback Philip Rivers has thrown a league-leading five interceptions for touchdowns, but no one in their right mind would suggest that McCoy bench the likely future Hall of Famer for his mistakes.

We all know that Rivers is the most important player on the team. And similarly, the development of Gordon is critical to the improvement of San Diego’s offense.

Who is McCoy kidding? The Chargers are 3-9 and going nowhere. Gordon has to get better. And the only way to do that is with more playing time, not less.

Gordon has yet to carry the ball 20 times in a contest with the Chargers. He averaged 25 carries a game his final season at Wisconsin.

The Chargers drafted a workhorse running back but choose to use him as a role player in a pass-first scheme. Gordon was never allowed to get into a rhythm during the game because his carries are too sporadic, so we never get a chance to see what the rookie can do if the coach loosened the reins and let him carry the load for a full game.

“[I dream about it] a lot,” Gordon said when asked about carrying the ball 25 times in a game. “I probably would have got 18 to 20 carries this game if I didn’t hurt myself.

“That last drive I was in there, the way we were moving the ball effectively like that, with the O-line pushing guys back getting movement, the fullback getting movement and Phil putting us in the right plays, we could be pretty dangerous out there.”

We’d like to see what that looks like on a regular basis as well, Melvin.