'It's Humbling': Rams Coach Sean McVay Shares Lessons Learned from Disappointing Start
It really hasn't been that long since Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay stood on the stage at SoFi Stadium as confetti reigned down following his team's victory in Super Bowl LVI.
Officially, it's been just over nine months - but it might as well be a lifetime ago.
After Sunday's 27-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, McVay walked out of SoFi with a far different feeling: the disappointment of the cold, hard basement floor, where the Rams reside in the NFC West.
Sitting at 3-6, Los Angeles has already surpassed last season's total number of losses, and the year is only half over. Through McVay's first five campaigns at the helm, his worst record came in 2019, when the Rams went 9-7 and missed the playoffs.
To avoid his first season under .500 as head coach, McVay will have to guide Los Angeles to a 6-2 record over the final eight games, which includes two games against the NFC West-leading Seattle Seahawks, a road affair with the 7-2 Kansas City Chiefs and a trip to Lambeau Field for a mid-December Monday night game against the Green Bay Packers.
In essence, there's a tough rough ahead for McVay and company to crest the .500 mark, let alone make the playoffs. Should the Rams not reach the postseason, they'd be the first reigning Super Bowl champions to do so since the 2016 Denver Broncos.
With so many expectations entering the year, the slow start and bleak outlook only compounded by injury woes has fostered an immense feeling of disappointment - but the 36-year-old McVay isn't letting it wear on him.
“I'm doing good," McVay said. "It's humbling. These are lessons where I've talked about it and my mindset remains the same. For whatever reason you're being tested, you're being stretched in ways that you haven't been stretched before. But it's easy to be able to sit up there and talk about the mental toughness, the resilience when things are going well. But this is where you're truly being tested."
The NFL lives by the philosophy of "any given week," implying that any one team can beat any other team in the league no matter the week. Despite the struggles thus far, it's McVay's job to accept that the past is exactly that and do his best to right the ship, and he seems to have adopted that exact mindset.
"I'm interested in trying to help figure out some of these solutions so that we can play better football," McVay asserted. "This is all of us together, but there are some execution elements, some things schematically that we're trying to be able to figure out, none of which is anything but an excuse."
After fighting off rumors of retirement over the offseason, McVay returned to continue winning football games with the core that gave him his first Super Bowl. While it certainly hasn't gone according to plan, he's keeping the same attitude that's worked so well the previous five years and is focused on getting his team over the hump.
"I'm going to be just fine and we're going to keep swinging," McVay said. "I'm going to try to do the best I can to pour into these guys, get them to play to the best of their abilities week in and week out, same thing with coaches. That's all you can do.”
McVay and the Rams have a chance to get back on track Sunday when they travel to take on the New Orleans Saints for a 1 p.m. kickoff.
But until then, McVay's more focused on the day-to-day battle of getting his team - and coaches - to perform to their capabilities. The league known as "week-to-week" is proving to be "season-to-season," and thus far, Los Angeles has found itself on the short end of the stick, still looking to rekindle the magic it found down the stretch just nine months ago.
You can follow Daniel Flick on Twitter at @DFlickDraft
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