Super Bowl LVI: Process Over Path the Message for Eagles, 29 Others

Whenever the annual Super Bowl teams gather, the ecosystems of the other 30 teams look for lessons on how the conference champions got to the big stage.

Here in Philadelphia, that's only amplified because the city is so passionate about the Eagles.

In this playoff cycle, the white noise has been about how far Jalen Hurts is from being the Bengals' Joe Burrow or collecting seemingly every big name under the sun like the Los Angeles Rams.

What Super Bowl LVI proves more than anything else is that there are many avenues to get to the final destination, but the directions entered into the GPS are always the same: stacking good decisions and valuing the process over the path.

Rams coach Sean McVay is the template for the modern NFL coach and it quickly becomes evident as to why. The 36-year-old mentor immediately takes over any room he enters with his presence, even virtual ones with a raspy voice as McVay has been dealing with this week.

With five years and 61 wins – including playoffs – under his belt as the Rams’ coach, McVay is still almost four years younger than his own star left tackle Andrew Whitworth and has already spawned three head coaches from his LA staff, starting with Zac Taylor, his mirror on Sunday with Cincinnati who spent two years with McVay before getting the big chair with the Bengals.

"I think the joke is if you had a cup of coffee with Sean McVay, then you're going to be a head coach in the NFL," Taylor smiled. "And there's a ton of truth to that. Because if you spend time around the guy, he gives you a ton of confidence in yourself."

After Taylor, former McVay defensive coordinator Brandon Staley got the LA Chargers job last year and now his current offensive coordinator, Kevin O'Connell, will be officially named the head coach in Minnesota after the Super Bowl.

"Number one, I almost think it's a little ridiculous when you talk about the tree because these guys are co-workers where we positively pour into one another," McVay said when asked about the success of his assistants. "I just happen to be in the role that I'm in, but whether it's Kevin, Brandon Staley, Zac Taylor, Matt LaFleur, I learned more from them than those guys have from me."

McVay preaches accountability, something he took himself for his Super Bowl loss to New England in 2019, one in which he was clearly outcoached by Bill Belichick, in a 13-3 loss in which L.A.'s offense did nothing.

“I think what you do to get over it is you look at yourself in the mirror, you take accountability and you keep it moving,” McVay said. “I think as a competitor, you have to be able to handle those tough moments, and I’ll never run away from the fact that I didn’t do a good enough job for our team within what I feel like my role and responsibility is to these guys.”

McVay's coaching DNA has almost become doctrine around the NFL and it's one you heard resonated by Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts throughout the past season with the Eagles.

"Whether it was a game like [the Super Bowl loss] or whether it was a game from a couple weeks ago, you’re always trying to learn," McVay explained. "You’re always trying to evolve, and I think you want to be able to learn from previous experiences but not allow it to inhibit your ability to be able to move forward.”

Come kickoff Sunday, the Bengals will be back in the big game for the first time in 33 years despite Mike Brown's shoestring budget and the smallest scouting staff in the NFL thanks to some solid drafting and targeted free-agent acquisitions while the Rams are built around veteran stars and pushing the chips to the middle of the table.

The dichotomy validated the thesis that different paths can get you to the destination just like both I-405 and I-105 lead to SoFi Stadium if you navigate them correctly.

The process is the more important part.

-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on both PhillyVoice.com and YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.