Sean McVay Says Seahawks Lucked Into Perfect Coverage on Game-Defining Stop

Rams' fourth-down play was unsuccessful.

Rams' late fourth-down play was unsuccessful. | Fox Sports

Perhaps the most impactful play of the NFC championship game was the Seattle Seahawks forcing a Matthew Stafford incompletion on fourth-and-4 with just under five minutes left in regulation. On that play, which took off six yards from the end zone and the go-ahead points, was thwarted quickly and effectively as two Seahawks players applied coverage on Los Angeles Rams running back Kyren Williams.

Stafford came off that look and tried to hit Terrance Ferguson for the score but Seattle's Devon Witherspoon knocked the pass away. The next time the Rams touched the ball there were 25 seconds left and they had to hope for a miracle that never came.

Big plays, big moments. @DevonWitherspo1 pic.twitter.com/BgtnCl3umx

— xz* - Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) January 26, 2026

After the game, Sean McVay explained what happened on the ill-fated play. His perspective is that the Seahawks got a bit of a lucky break.

“They kind of lucked into having two guys peel on Kyren right there,” McVay said. “I know that can’t be part of their design, so it’s a fortuitous bust by them. But they’re an excellent team. You don’t take away anything. They earned the win and they’re NFC champs for a reason.”

“They were bringing a zero,” McVay continued. “They ended up peeling two guys—can’t imagine that’s what they were really trying to do. Tried to move off-schedule. I’ll have to go back and look at it but there were other opportunities on the previous play that we could’ve converted on that one, too.”

Stafford shared a similar assessment.

“They double-peeled on the back,” Stafford said. “It was just a mishap by them. Lucked into covering our guy. Couple chances down there, didn’t make it happen.”

Now, a lot of people jumped on these comments as sour grapes coming from a losing coach. But McVay and Stafford were both pretty clear in saying that they had other opportunities to win and didn't capitalize. Luck, scheme, whatever ... games are decided by the combination of a million different factors and there's no need for Seattle to apologize if one break broke their way.

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