Many sang McVay’s praise after his 2023 turnaround, he has somehow topped that coaching performance in 2024
Los Angeles Rams Head coach Sean McVay is being praised after the team’s 12-6 win over the San Francisco 49ers this week, raising belief in the coach and his squad to new heights. Confidence in the team was already flying high after a huge underdog win over the Buffalo Bills with the fan base coming in at a 93% on our FanDuel survey this week. Taking into account that’s with the survey being taken before the 49ers win, one can speculate that number would be even higher after the Thursday night victory.
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On Friday, NFL Network analyst Kyle Brandt added to the Rams hype, having a lot to say specifically about McVay on Good Morning Football:
“I seen this a lot last night, this morning, people are coming out “Wow, McVay’s putting a hell of a season together, McVay really is a great coach” How many times have I said it, he’s the best coach in the league. The Best coach in the league. He can win a game one week with 44 points, he can win a game next week with 12 points.” Brandt continued “This was a 2-4 that was laughed at and disregarded, just like they were last year when they also made the playoffs, the best coach in the league can get his team to keep fighting.”
It has been said that 2023 was McVay’s best year of coaching, taking a very young team that was not expected to do much entering the season from a 3-6 start to the Wild Card round of the playoffs. Somehow though, McVay has topped that coaching effort this year bringing an injury ravaged team from the basement at 1-4, to 8-6 and in complete control of their fate in the playoff race. McVay has the uncanny ability to make players believe more in themselves the further into adversity they get, unifying the locker room in a way that makes the team feel like a family.
It’s a stark contrast from the team the Rams faced on Thursday night. Previous to the game, 49ers WR Deebo Samuel called out his team about his frustrations with his lack of opportunities to see the football. It was clear the Niners were trying to feed him on Thursday, but Samuel could not rise to the occasion, specifically dropping a huge conversion on a ball that hit him in the chest. On top of this, San Francisco has dealt with hold outs all summer and even had a player walk off the field mid-game. In the way McVay has been able to unify his team during adversity, it just seems like from the outside the exact opposite is happening to the Rams NFC West rivals up north. The further adversity hits San Francisco, the further they seem to set themselves back and fight inward.
LA has three winnable games left against the Jets, Cardinals and Seahawks. They’ve proven their offense can be explosive vs the Bills and they’ve proven their defense can be lock down vs. the 49ers, if McVay can pull off another coaching wonder and find a way to get both of those successes together in a single-game, their potential could take them all the way to the Super Bowl and cement McVay’s legacy as a coach among the best.
