Patriots player’s shocking comments should have Chargers firing Greg Roman

Whether the Los Angeles Chargers and head coach Jim Harbaugh were going to move on from offensive coordinator Greg Roman in the aftermath of the latest playoff debacle for the organization was up for debate right after Sunday’s game.

That is, until New England Patriots linebacker Robert Spillane got to the podium in Foxboro.

In a candid moment, the victorious Spillane dropped some comments that lined up with what everyone watching the AFC playoff game saw with their own eyes:

Justin Herbert’s Chargers offense was lost.

“After the game, talking to a few of the guys on the other team, they had no clue what we were doing,” Spillane said. “They came up and said that. ‘We had no clue what you guys were in all game,’ so…”

#Patriots LB Robert Spillane says Chargers players told him after the game they had no clue what coverage New England was running.

“After the game, talking to a few of the guys on the other team, they had no clue what we were doing. They came up and said that.”

(🎥 @Patriots) pic.twitter.com/V1YqqYb9Nq
— Carlos A. Lopez (@LosTalksPats) January 12, 2026

Make no mistake, this was Spillane praising his coaching staff and teammates in overarching comments responding to questions.

But for the Chargers and Roman, it’s about as problematic as it gets.

Herbert threw for just 159 yards on the day and took six sacks, never mind countless other pressures. He fumbled twice. Roman dialed up some weird plays, like a play action on fourth down with the game on the line. They failed to score after an early interception while starting inside the 20-yard line of the Patriots. Examples abound.

Blame goes all over the place. The front office didn’t build a good interior offensive line and it stunk the place up. Both star offensive tackles were out with injuries. The receiving targets couldn’t get open and/or didn’t have good designs on the routes.

One could even suggest it’s partially the fault of Herbert and center Bradley Bozeman for not making the proper adjustments at the line of scrimmage once the Patriots disguised what they were doing. It’s fair, to a degree.

But it all falls on Roman. His track record in the payoffs, even with Lamar Jackson, speaks for itself. His guys didn’t look prepared. They looked timid. And his playbook looked old school and limited in the face of a similar defense to the Houston one that roughed up Herbert in the playoffs a year ago.

The Chargers can’t afford to retain Roman when their own players are openly admitting to opponents after games that they just couldn’t match up. In the modern NFL, that’s a good way to lose a locker room.

Surely, Jim Harbaugh knows this.

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