Quietly, Denver’s Vic Fangio helped Chargers’ Brandon Staley rise in NFL ranks

They will meet Sunday for the first time as head coaches, Brandon Staley and Vic Fangio matching up when the Chargers visit Denver.

No matter what happens in this key AFC West showdown, it won’t be the pair’s most monumental meeting, Fangio the one who gave Staley his start in the NFL in 2017 when he hired Staley in Chicago.

“During the interview, he didn’t say anything to me,” Staley recalled Wednesday. “It was a really tough deal because I’m not getting any feedback on what’s going down in this interview. I mean, silence. Nothing.

“He’s the type of guy 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 and they ask me and I tell them, ‘I have no idea what’s going on with this guy.’ And they’re like, ‘That’s a good thing.’ ”

Fangio was the Bears’ defensive coordinator at the time and picked Staley to coach the team’s outside linebackers. Two years later, Fangio was hired by the Broncos and Staley went with him.

After one season, Staley got the job as the Rams’ defensive coordinator. Not even a year later, he was hired by the Chargers to be their head coach.

“He’s certainly the reason why I was able to become a coordinator with the Rams,” Staley said, “because of the amount of respect that Sean [McVay] and all the offensive coaches in this league have for him. I wouldn’t be where I am today without him.”

When he was first hired by Fangio, Staley was a relative unknown at the NFL level. He was then the defensive coordinator at Division III John Carroll, Fangio explaining that other members of Chicago’s staff had crossed paths with Staley.

Conversely, Staley was intimately familiar with Fangio, his history and his scheme. As a young college coach,…