One of the Chargers moves that has flown a bit under the radar this offseason is Head Coach Anthony Lynn’s contract extension. The extension was a reported one-year extension, basically meaning through the 2021 season. This surprised some fans because how do you extend a coach following a 5-11, nightmare season?

I think that’s a fair comment but it’s important to realize that this is basically like a 2021 team-option. If this season goes disastrously, the extension is not going to stop the team from potentially moving on. The more important question is: Is Anthony Lynn the right man to bring the team it’s first Super Bowl?

One important part of this conversation is that it’s probably too soon to know for sure. Three seasons is a very small sample size, ask Bill Belichick. In his first gig with the Cleveland Browns, the greatest coach of all-time was 25-23 through his first three seasons. Lynn is 26-22 over the same span.

The unique thing about Coach Lynn is that he came to Chargers with no real coaching specialty. The hot thing-to-do is usually to hire the trendiest coordinator. What he did bring was his experience as a former NFL running back and a Super Bowl champion. He also coached 17 years in the league, mostly as a running backs coach. Unfortunately, that experience hasn’t translated to success for the Chargers. They haven’t finished in the top-15 in rushing yards since he took over in 2017. Two of the seasons ranked 24th overall or worse.

One of my biggest gripes with this coaching staff and Coach Lynn is a lack of game planning and adjustments. Time and time again we have seen this team show up to games and get off to frustratingly slow starts. The numbers back it up as well. The Chargers ranked 26th in the NFL, according to teamrankings.com, scoring just 3.3 points on average in the first quarter of 2019 games. It’s incredibly hard to win when you start games the way Philip Rivers starts to scramble.