Sean McVay has spent the better part of a decade building a reputation as one of football’s brightest minds.
asserted
McVay → spend → minds
Six weeks into the 2026 NFL Season, and the Los Angeles Rams’ head coach is getting outsmarted by the one person who should know his offense better than anyone.
Himself.
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who → outsmart → anyone
The Rams are currently 2-4, dead last in the NFC West, and watching their Super Bowl dreams unravel one self-inflicted wound at a time.
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dreams → watch → time
And while McVay deserves enormous credit for transforming this franchise into a perennial contender, he deserves an equally large share of the blame for its current predicament.
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he → deserve → predicament
Let’s start with special teams, an annual problem McVay has allowed to fester like an untreated infection.
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McVay → let → infection
For years, the Rams have tried to get by with bargain-bin kickers, questionable personnel decisions and a reluctance to expose starters on special teams.
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Rams → try → teams
The revolving door at kicker has become almost comical, except nobody in Los Angeles is laughing anymore.
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nobody → revolve → Angeles
Harrison Mevis missed four field goals before being released, including a blocked 48-yard attempt in overtime against Buffalo that helped seal another heartbreaking defeat.
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that → miss → defeat
But why was Mevis attempting a 48-yarder in the first place?
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Mevis → attempt → place
With Matthew Stafford carving up Buffalo’s defense, McVay inexplicably called a run on third-and-5 that gained nothing, settling for a long field goal instead of trusting his reigning MVP to move the chains.
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that → carve → chains
Afterward, McVay admitted he regretted the decision.
“I wish I would have had a better play call and gone forward, got it a lot tighter.
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it → admit → call
I’m sick right now with myself,” he said.
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he → ’m → myself
The Rams entered this season accustomed to being among the NFL’s least-penalized teams.
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Rams → enter → teams
Instead, false starts, holding calls and other mental mistakes have repeatedly sabotaged promising drives.
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starts → sabotage → drives
“I can’t deny that because we had some critical moments in critical situations,” said McVay when asked if his team is undisciplined this season compared to last.
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team → deny → last
“We had a couple key and critical ones where you jump offsides on fourth-and-three…then you jump offsides on the first play of their two-minute drive when you’re trying to sustain the lead and win the game.
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you → have → game
We have to do a better job and it starts with me.
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it → have → me
“It starts with me,” has become a weekly catchphrase for McVay during this tumultuous season and his accountability has been admirable.
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accountability → start → season
Unfortunately, we can’t say the same about his play-calling a lot of the time.
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we → say → time
Against Arizona, McVay called a fourth-and-1 handoff to tight end Davis Allen, who had never carried the football in an NFL game.
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who → call → game
Later, facing fourth-and-8, he dialed up another predictable screen pass that was blown up.
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that → face → pass
Another embarrassing loss, 18-16, to a Cardinals team that entered as a 12.5-point underdog.
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that → enter → underdog
McVay’s offense has become maddeningly predictable until desperation strikes.
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desperation → become → ?
Give Stafford the football with two minutes remaining and suddenly the Rams look unstoppable.
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Rams → give → minutes
For the other 55 minutes, they’re frequently stuck in neutral, squandering opportunities to build comfortable leads and allowing opponents to hang around.
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opponents → stick → leads
It’s why four consecutive games have come down to the final play, with Los Angeles losing three.
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Angeles → ’ → three
McVay keeps turning games that should be decided by execution over four quarters into coin flips.
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that → turn → flips
Lately, the coin keeps landing on the wrong side.
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coin → land → side
Even the season-opening debacle in Australia falls at his feet.
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debacle → open → feet
McVay chose to arrive in Melbourne barely a day before kickoff, while San Francisco arrived nearly a week earlier.
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Francisco → choose → kickoff
The Rams looked sluggish in a 27-7 loss.
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Rams → look → loss
“Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn and sometimes you have a dumbass coach that makes travel plans that put you in a bad spot,” McVay later admitted.
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McVay → win → spot
At least he owned it.
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he → own → it
To be fair, McVay cannot control the avalanche of injuries that has devastated his roster.
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that → control → roster
Poona Ford, Kobie Turner, Davante Adams, Puka Nacua, Myles Garrett and several other key contributors have been sidelined.
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Ford → sideline → ?
Nor can he control Alaric Jackson throwing a postgame punch and getting suspended, or questionable officiating decisions against Josh Wallace that cost them victories in Denver and last week against Arizona.
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that → control → Arizona
But injuries don’t explain everything, and bad calls don’t excuse bad coaching.
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calls → explain → coaching
McVay himself acknowledged the uncomfortable truth after Sunday’s loss.
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McVay → acknowledge → loss
“We won’t win a game unless we figure out how not to beat ourselves,” he said.
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he → win → ourselves
He’s right.
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He → ’ → ?
…and 15 more, not listed.
The Aporia
