Chargers coach Brandon Staley, known for making gutsy calls, cost his team a chance to beat the Chiefs by playing it safe

• The Chargers lost to the Chiefs 27-24 in the first game of Week 2 of the NFL season.
• Throughout the game, the Chargers punted on several fourth-and-short situations, which head coach Brandon Staley had previously been more aggressive at going for.

The Los Angeles Chargers lost a close divisional battle against the Kansas City Chiefs to open up Week 2 of the NFL season.

Despite holding a 17-7 lead in the third quarter, the Chargers eventually faltered, with the Chiefs taking advantage of a deep strike to Justin Watson and a 99-yard interception return by Jaylen Watson (not related) to take a lead they would not give up.

Quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert both delivered plenty of fireworks, though, trading brilliant throws on the day, but the biggest surprise of the game actually came from one of the coaches. After a year of trusting analytics more aggressively than any other team in the NFL, Chargers head coach Brandon Staley played scared.

Staley became a favorite of many football fans last year with his apparent all-in approach to trusting the numbers. Where other coaches reflexively punted on fourth-and-short near midfield, Staley was one to put the ball in the hands of his offense, and let the chips fall where they may.

For the most part, things worked out for Staley's philosophy in 2021. The Chargers went for it on fourth down 34 times, good for third in the NFL, and converted at a rate of nearly 65%, tied for fourth in the league.

Gutsy decisions at the right moments specifically proved useful in early games for Los Angeles including wins over the Chiefs and Browns. But despite the success that the Chargers saw with the strategy last year, on Thursday night in Kansas City, Staley decided to play conservative.

The tendency first appeared on the opening drive of the game. With the Chargers facing fourth-and-two in the red zone, Staley opted to send out the field goal unit at take the easy points. While it's far from a shocking choice for most coaches to kick in that spot, with Staley, it raised some eyebrows.

Staley would largely remain conservative from there. Five times throughout the game, the Chargers faced fourth-and-relatively short situations near midfield, and all five times the Chargers would punt.

For the Chargers, such a change in aggression was noteworthy.

After the game, Staley told reporters that his decision didn't come from a lack of faith in his offense, but rather the trust he had in his defense.

"Just wanted to give our defense a chance to compete. I really loved the way we were playing," Staley said. "I felt like that was the formula to flip the field. I felt like we were aggressive when we needed to be tonight. We converted all four of our fourth downs. I just felt like, with who is over there and the way our defense is playing, I felt like the field position would be a big edge for our defense to be able to put them back there. I like the way our defense competed tonight."

Indeed, with the addition of Khalil Mack, the Chargers defense looks much-improved this year, and Staley has reason to believe in them as a unit. But believing in your defense can also mean trusting them to get a stop just in case you get stopped on fourth-and-short around midfield, rather than just punting the ball away to hopefully flip the field.

Staley's game plan wasn't totally conservative. By the time the final whistle blew, the Chargers had in fact gone for it on fourth down four times, though two of those attempts came on the team's final drive when they were trailing by 10 inside the two-minute warning, with no choice but to push forward.

But even with a few attempts that worked out, it's surprising that Staley, of all coaches, decided to sit back and let the Chiefs come to him, rather than take it to them full-force.