“This isn’t a preseason game where you have 90 guys to choose from,” Staley said. “You only have 48 players to choose from. You have to go out there and you have to field a football team.”The Chargers also have only one Herbert and one Derwin James Jr.Why subject Herbert to the kinds of late hits he absorbed? So what if backup quarterback Chase Daniel would have played three quarters?

He might have now just game-planned the Chargers Curse back into existence

Staley said Bosa wasn’t injured but considering what he said about Williams, who would believe him?

Murray exiting the game with a stinger in the second quarter should have served as a warning but Staley ignored it.Williams departing later in the same quarter with a back injury should have sounded the alarm bells but Staley didn’t hear them.

This was the coaching equivalent of throwing into quadruple coverage, an unforced error that could compromise the championship ambitions of a team that was trending the right way on multiple fronts.

Herbert played three quarters. Many of the team’s defensive starters played into the fourth. Receiver Keenan Allen played the entire game.

With the Chargers locked in as the AFC’s No. 5 seed before kickoff, the game was a meaningless exercise until Staley decided it wasn’t, and they now could be forced to play their postseason opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars without Williams, linebacker Kenneth Murray Jr. and edge rusher Joey Bosa.

Staley was fiery and defensive in his address after a 31-28 defeat to the Denver Broncos, his unusual demeanor reflecting the magnitude of the self-inflicted damage his team sustained in its regular-season finale.

Quarterback Justin Herbert’s most explosive target, Williams was unable to walk on his own power later on Sunday when he made his way to the team bus from the visiting locker room at Empower Field. His arm was draped over the right shoulder of a Chargers’ staffer, who held him around his lower back. Williams shuffled his feet slowly.