Las Vegas Raiders

Did Mike McCoy quit on the Chargers by not calling a late timeout vs. Oakland?

Published Dec. 18, 2016 10:50 p.m. ET

Dieter Kurtenbach

Mike McCoy had a message for his San Diego Chargers team after they lost another fourth-quarter lead Sunday in a 19-16 loss to the Oakland Raiders.

“Keep fighting.”

It’s a funny sentiment because McCoy seemingly had no interest in fighting until the end of Sunday’s game.

It’s unlikely the Chargers would have been able to win Sunday’s game after Philip Rivers’ interception with less than two minutes remaining the contest, but down three, with one timeout left, there was still a chance.

According to NumberFire, San Diego still had a 10 percent chance of winning the game after the interception.

It wasn’t going to be easy — the Raiders, were well within field-goal range when they took over at the San Diego 13 with 1:37 remaining, but Derek Carr’s finger injury meant he had to take knees from the shotgun, pushing the Raiders back three-and-a-half yards on each snap. The Chargers would have had only 15 or 16 seconds left after third down, and they’d probably be down six after a field goal, but they’d get the ball back with a chance to win the game.

All they had to do was call a timeout after the first kneel-down. Or the second kneel-down. Or the third kneel-down.

Why?

Some argued that the Chargers had already used all three timeouts — that the CBS TV graphic, which showed the Chargers still had one timeout, was wrong.

But the NFL’s official game book, which details the play-by-play of the contest, shows that the Chargers only used two timeouts in the half, the first at 4:56 in the third quarter and the second at 12:28 in the fourth quarter.

The Chargers had challenged a pass completion early in the second half, but they won — the play was reversed — so San Diego wasn’t charged with a timeout.

As far as the NFL (and FOX Sports’ box score, and CBS’s box score, and ESPN’s box score) is concerned, the graphic was right — San Diego had a timeout remaining.

Yes, 15 seconds isn’t a lot of time, and yes, Sebastian Janikowski almost certainly would have made the 36-yard field goal, but crazier things have happened than a team coming back from down six with a little more than 10 seconds remaining.

Here’s a just a short list of things that could have gone wrong and helped San Diego win, had it called a timeout:

• Botched field-goal snap
• Botched field-goal hold
• Missed field goal
• Blocked field goal
• Big kick return, setting up Hail Mary throw
• Kick return for touchdown
• Awesome lateral play touchdown

But instead, despite the fact they were not in checkmate, Chargers — either through confusion or by design — decided to call it a game.

It’s one thing for a team to quit on a coach, but for a coach to quit on a team — that’s something altogether different.

The Chargers can’t seem to get out of San Diego fast enough, and they’re not keen on making a good impression on their way out.