Sean McVay is losing his voice but fighting for his reputation.
Three years ago, the NFL world excused the Rams’ coaching whiz kid for losing the sideline battle to mastermind Bill Belichick in a defense-dominated Super Bowl win by the Patriots. But now McVay is in the position of a teacher who can’t afford to get schooled again — this time by protégé Zac Taylor of the Bengals in Super Bowl 2022.
“I feel great. I just sound like sh–,” a raspy McVay said Wednesday night. “I got the honey and all the remedies going to get this voice back.”
McVay wears the 13-3 loss in Super Bowl 53 like a scarlet letter, from his admission in the immediate aftermath that he got “out-coached,” to reflecting on the game as “very humbling” in December 2020 when the teams met again, to reliving the pain once more earlier this week.
The Rams led the NFC in scoring during the 2018 regular season but never advanced the ball past the 26-yard line as the Patriots broke from their characteristic man-to-man coverage in the secondary to play a matchup zone, dropped 7-8 defenders into coverage, and took away big plays.
“What you do to get over it is you look at yourself in the mirror, you take accountability and you keep it moving,” said McVay, who calls the offensive plays. “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.”
The football gods gifted McVay, 35, an early shot at redemption. But put him in a no-excuses spot. Taylor knows that the Patriots caught the Rams off guard with surprises that night because he was quarterbacks coach under McVay at the time. So, he will have some tricks up his sleeve.
“I’m sure this time around, Coach McVay being familiar with this stage, is getting us ready to compete at our highest level,” said Rams running back Sony Michel, who scored the only touchdown of Super Bowl 53 for the Patriots. “We’re just trying to play our best football. That’s kind of the goal.”
The Bengals’ surprise run to the Super Bowl has been trademarked by defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo’s adjustments, including holding the Chiefs scoreless on six of seven possessions in the second half and overtime of the AFC Championship game.
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“What I’ve been impressed with is they’ve gotten timely turnovers in the crunch-time moments,” McVay said. “To be able to have [forced] seven turnovers, they’ve got really good instinctual players with great concept trigger. It’s definitely something we’ve harped on, without a doubt.”
Even though it’s his second shot, McVay still could surpass the Steelers’ Mike Tomlin as the youngest Super Bowl-winning head coach. That’s how good his first five seasons have been.
But the voices around McVay will change the conversation if he is out-coached again when the Rams are playing at home, as a favorite, with the quarterback (Matthew Stafford) they went all-in for after that last Super Bowl loss performing at his best.
“You don’t minimize what a great opportunity has been earned,” McVay said. “You want to take in the magnitude of the opportunity but not make it too big. Nerves are good. Pressure is a privilege.”