McCoy says his job is safe despite another Chargers collapse

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Coach Mike McCoy still doesn’t have any real answers for why his San Diego Chargers keep blowing big leads late in games.

He does know the answer to a question that’s on the minds of a lot of angry fans.

Asked Monday if he thought his job is in jeopardy, he said: “No. I’m coaching my tail off every day and I’m the head coach.”

And the Chargers are 1-3, thanks to their latest pratfall.

They blew a 13-point lead with just under seven minutes to go and lost 35-34 to the previously winless New Orleans Saints on Sunday. Fumbles by running back Melvin Gordon and wide receiver Travis Benjamin gave Drew Brees the opening to lead a comeback against his former team.

The Chargers blew a 21-point, third-quarter lead at Kansas City on opening day and lost 33-27 in overtime. After routing Jacksonville in their home opener, they blew a late lead at Indianapolis and lost 26-22.

Then came the meltdown against the Saints.

The resulting fan discontent comes at a bad time. The Chargers, whose attempted move to Los Angeles was rebuffed by fellow NFL owners in January, are seeking a $1.1 billion public handout for a new downtown stadium via a ballot measure calling for an increase in the hotel occupancy tax. The Chargers have once again threatened to move to Los Angeles - where they could join the Rams in a stadium slated to open in Inglewood in 2019 - if the measure is rejected.

Besides the fumbles, there were plenty of other errors by the Chargers, like Benjamin letting too many punts hit the ground and a sloppy three-and-out drive on the first possession of the second half that McCoy called a “disaster.”

“There’s 53 minutes of some good football and then unfortunately we turned the ball over twice there to give them a great opportunity to do what they did,” McCoy said. “You’re furious when you watch because you see all the positives, but then there’s the blowups. We can put it on two plays, but that’s not the only reason There’s a number of times during the games. Like I told the players, that’s every week. There’s so many things we can do better.”

The Chargers have lost 15 of their last 20 games and are 24-30 overall under McCoy.

Up next is a road game against the rival Oakland Raiders. The Chargers were swept in the AFC last season while going 4-12 overall. They have lost 10 of 11 road games dating to the last game of 2014.

Also coming under fire from fans are general manager Tom Telesco and the president of football operations, John Spanos, who is the grandson of owner Alex Spanos.

Asked if Telesco and Spanos are getting him the right players, McCoy said: “Yesterday we had every opportunity to win the game. We’ve got the players to go out and win. We’ve got to do a better job not turning the ball over, not making certain mistakes that we made at critical times in certain games.”

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