How Chargers’ Brandon Staley impressed Broncos’ Vic Fangio in memorable interview

Staley got his start in the NFL in 2017 as an assistant coach for Fangio when they were with the Chicago Bears. Now, they’ll coach against each other Sunday when the Chargers play the Broncos.

COSTA MESA — Broncos coach Vic Fangio gave Brandon Staley his start in the NFL, but he didn’t want credit for Staley becoming the Chargers’ head coach this year.

“That he got his start with us is just icing on the cake,” Fangio told Chargers reporters on a conference call this week. “Brandon is good people and we’re friends. I’m extremely happy for him, and any little part that I may have played in it, which is probably very little, I’m happy to help him.”

Chargers cornerback Chris Harris Jr. played for Fangio in 2019 and referred to him as a serious and closed-off person. Staley must have done something right as an assistant coach of Fangio for him to take 10 minutes from his busy work schedule to speak with Chargers reporters.

It was also a good sign for Staley to get silence and undivided attention from Fangio during his interview presentation for the position of edge rushers coach with the Chicago Bears in 2017.

“It was a really tough deal because I’m not getting any feedback on what’s going down in this interview,” Staley recalled Wednesday. “Silence. Nothing. He’s the type of guy with no expression, nothing. I have no idea how I’m doing. I’m trying my best. I feel like I’m killing it, but I got nothing from this guy. We take a break, they ask me and I tell them, ‘I have no idea what’s going on with this guy.’ They’re like, ‘That’s a good thing.’”

Staley hasn’t looked back since being hired by Fangio and will now coach against him for the first time when the Chargers face the Denver Broncos for a road matchup Sunday.

“Vic means a lot to me, as much as anybody in the NFL that I’ve been able to work with,” Staley said. “He’s made a huge impact on the way I coach, the way I view the game. He certainly has stood the test of time in the NFL. I just really admire his path.”

Fangio told his Bears coaching staff in 2017 that he was looking for a young coach who was knowledgeable with his defensive scheme to guide the edge rushers. Assistant coaches referred Fangio to Staley, the then-defensive coordinator for Division III program John Carroll University.

Staley was well-versed with Fangio’s scheme because it caught his attention when Fangio was the defensive coordinator at Stanford in 2010. At the time, Staley was coaching at Hutchinson Community College.

Staley extensively studied how Fangio’s two-high safety scheme evolved during Fangio’s successful four-year run as the San Francisco 49ers’ defensive play-caller from 2011 to 2014. Fangio continued his success as the defensive coordinator of the Bears from 2015 to 2018, and Staley contributed to that for the latter two years.

But Fangio, 63, made Staley, 38, earn a spot on his Chicago coaching staff during a memorable interview.

“I was going to study everything,” Staley recalled about the interview. “So what I did was I had a lot of his examples from San Francisco in my teach tapes at (John) Carroll. I kind of brought a lot of my install tapes from CarrolI, showing our Carroll film, and then showing his film and how we taught our players. I felt like it was an authentic way to go into an interview and say, ‘Hey, this is what I’ve been doing.’”

Staley was an expert of Fangio’s scheme and he knew how to connect with the players, even Bears star edge rusher Khalil Mack. Staley followed Fangio to Denver for the same position and had success with Broncos’ star edge rushers Von Miller and Bradley Chubb in 2019.

Rams coach Sean McVay was also in need of a young coach who was knowledgeable with Fangio’s scheme when he had an opening for defensive coordinator in 2020. Again, Staley came highly recommended and instantly connected with Rams star defenders Jalen Ramsey and Aaron Donald.

That was how quickly Staley ascended to become the Chargers’ leader and it started by him studying Fangio’s scheme more than 10 years ago. But Staley went back and researched Fangio’s work from his days as the linebackers coach of the New Orleans Saints in the ‘80s and ‘90s with the “Dome Patrol.”

Perhaps no one besides Fangio knows Fangio’s scheme better than Staley. It will be a battle of mentor versus mentee when the AFC West head coaches meet Sunday.

“Our defenses are very, very similar,” Fangio said. “(Staley) can watch our tape and probably call what we’re in and we can probably watch his tape and do the same. We’ve seen him on tape over the course of the season and they are very, very similar.”

The defensive philosophies are similar, but Staley is preparing for Fangio to tweak his game plan for Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert. Fangio has coached in the NFL for more than 30 years because he knows how to evolve and adjust based on his personnel and the opponent of the week.

“That’s why he has stood the test of time, because just when you think that Vic has settled into something, then he ambushes you with something different,” Staley said. “I had a front-row seat to that. It’s that evolution, as a coach, that makes him so unique. Then, he has the principles that are never changing about tackling and taking the ball away and playing blocks, physical. The scouting report, knowing the opponent’s tendencies, he’s as good of a scouting coach as there is. He has those staples that don’t change.”

It will be a chess match for four quarters in Denver, but then the two coaches and friends will embrace at midfield. Fangio doesn’t want credit for Staley, but Staley is proud to be a part of his coaching tree.

“What I’ve learned in the interview process is being open-minded because I was a Division III college assistant sitting down with one of the best defensive coordinators over the last 30 years,” Staley said. “The odds of that aren’t good.”

NOTE

Chargers defensive tackle Jerry Tillery was activated off the COVID-19 reserve list and returned to practice Thursday.

Tillery missed last week’s win against the Pittsburgh Steelers after testing positive for COVID-19.