Chargers' Lynn won't use relocation, injuries as excuses for poor play

Los Angeles Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn refuses to make excuses as he begins his regime ahead of the 2017 season.

Lynn was hired by the Chargers on January 12, the culmination of a rapid ascent to the top of the coaching ladder. He began last season as the Buffalo Bills' assistant head coach/running backs coach, was subsequently promoted to offensive coordinator, then became interim head coach when Rex Ryan was fired in December.

With the Chargers' relocation to Los Angeles from San Diego looming large over the franchise's long-term direction, Lynn refuses to use the move as an excuse for poor performance this season.

"It really wasn’t ever an elephant in the room," Lynn said to Albert Breer of The MMQB. "I'm a pretty straightforward guy. I let these guys know exactly where I stood, what the standard was, and what the expectations were, and how we were going to go about doing it. … There's a lot of character on this football team. And that's why I believe this whole process that we could use as an excuse, we won’t use it as an excuse."

The Chargers were plagued with injuries last year, while standout defensive end Joey Bosa held out through most of the summer and missed the first four games of the regular season due to a hamstring ailment. However, Lynn balked at the idea that both injuries and holdouts lowered the Chargers' ceiling.

"To me, that’s just excuses," Lynn said. "It's the National Football League, and we're all talented. I mean, this is an elite group of men. I don't think there’s a non-talented team in the National Football League. The facts are, and I deal in the currency of the truth, we won nine games the past two years. We're below average. So we have to change some things that we're doing. We have to approach it better. We have to play better.

"And we have elite talent - just like everyone else. What we do with it is what’s most important."