How Chris Shula's 2024 Rams Defense Changed After One Conversation

The Los Angeles Rams' defense struggled to find themselves early in the 2024 season, with all of their losses being directly tied to their inability to make critical stops late. To their credit, it was a team full of individuals who had barely or never played with each other before.

On top of that, the offense was devastated with injuries and the defense was trying to adjust to life without Aaron Donald.

So when the 1-4 Rams entered their BYE week, it seemed like the season was slipping away. However, it was in that BYE week where then first year defensive coordinator Chris Shula, after having a long, in-depth conversation with Sean McVay, got back to basics and turned things around.

“It allows me to be myself. We had a big talk," stated Shula.

"We were struggling going into the bye [week] last year and it was like, ‘Just be yourself. What'd you do at John Carroll [University]?’ When I was Defensive Corner my first year at John Carroll. ‘What exactly would you do?’ That resonated with me. I know he’s got my back. He's always believed in me. That’s a big feeling when you feel safety like that as a coach, when you're not out walking on eggshells if you make a call or do this defense or you make a mistake, it allows you to be a lot freer, and we want our players to play like that too.”

Shula complemented McVay for giving him autonomy during his first season, allowing him to work through the growing pains and thus, McVay and Shula have a defense ready to swarm the league in 2025.

It's conversations like that these, conversations prioritizing the person over the product, that has Shula in a spot many McVay coordinators have found themselves before. On the doorstep of a head coaching opportunity.

“It’s cool to take the whole offseason. I always think you don't coach in the NFL, you live in the NFL. We could be at work talking about our families or I could be at [Head Coach] Sean's [McVay] house, we could be talking about defensive schemes," he said.

"You never know what's going on. We've really had a lot of time this offseason to clean up a lot of the stuff from last year, clean up some of the language. He’s just an awesome resource. He knows our defense as good as anybody and he's an awesome resource whether to have suggestions or bounce stuff off him or language or different things like that. Or hey, this is what the offense is seeing. This is what may hurt offenses. It’s been nonstop communication. It's been fun.”

The Rams defense rebounded coming out the BYE week, becoming a turnover-inducing machine that played a critical role in the team ripping off three straight wins, and then they shut the door on others to win McVay's fourth division title.

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