The Los Angeles Chargers suffered one of the worst postseason losses in memory, allowing a 27-0 first-half lead to slip away in a 31-30 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Super Wild Card Weekend.
Joining NFL Network’s Good Morning Football on Friday, Chargers defensive tackle Sebastian Joseph-Day likened the loss to the one he experienced with the Los Angeles Rams in the 2020 postseason.
“It stings,” Joseph-Day said of the Chargers’ loss. “I always try to use it as motivation. I look at it in this perspective -- in 2020, when we (the Rams) had the No. 1 defense with (then-Rams defensive coordinator) Brandon Staley, we lost in kind of that tough fashion to Aaron Rodgers at Lambeau.
“So, I kind of look at it like that, you know? We got our taste of playoffs. We all got to experience it. The team was young. And also it was so new. It’s one thing when you have the team but really good players. But it’s also another thing putting it all together. I think that experience, we’ve got to put it all together, and we have another shot like 2020.”
The Rams lost 32-18 to the Packers in a listless affair back in 2020, which prompted L.A. to make a massive trade for Matthew Stafford, which helped propel the Rams to a Super Bowl.
The Chargers didn’t make such a paradigm-shifting move this offseason following their postseason collapse, with Justin Herbert already entrenched as a franchise quarterback. But instead of moving on from veterans like Keenan Allen and Khalil Mack, Los Angeles is running things back with a similar cast of players that helped propel it to the postseason.
Joseph-Day hopes the Chargers find similar success experienced by the Rams in 2021, when he ended the season hoisting a Lombardi Trophy.