Three years ago, Sean McVay could seemingly do no wrong. He was the wunderkind of the NFL, a savant of offensive play-calling, the maestro of the second coming of the “Greatest Show on Turf.” Whatever he touched turned to gold. Any assistant lucky enough to shake his hand suddenly shot up job boards around the league.
And there was that time he dazzled folks by remembering every play from his games.
But on February 3, 2019, McVay had a very humbling experience. His Rams lost to Bill Belichick’s Patriots in Super Bowl LIII, 13-3, the lowest-scoring Super Bowl ever. The Rams ranked second in total offense on the season, averaging 32.9 points per game… and yet failed to score a single touchdown. It was a stunning beatdown by Belichick’s defense.
The public’s crush on McVay has chilled a bit, but when looking through the young career of this 34-year-old head coach, there is something absolutely astounding that deserves to be highlighted.
When leading at halftime as a head coach, Sean McVay has never lost.
Not once.
34-0.
Kyle Brandt of NFL Network’s Good Morning Football highlighted this statistic this morning, and to show placed McVay along some illustrious company. According to Good Morning Football, here are some notable records for head coaches when leading at halftime through 64 career games:
Don Shula 34-4-2
Bill Belichick 25-9
Bill Walsh 21-14
Chuck Noll 19-10.
And then there’s McVay.
The 8-4 Rams are coming on strong lately after a slow start. Now in first place in the NFC West (due to a owning tiebreaker with my Seahawks… but I digress), playing fantastic defense and developing a running game with rookie running back Cam Akers, they should not be taken lightly. McVay has this team looking like a serious contender to make a deep run in these playoffs and, as his track record shows, if the Rams get up early, it’s over.
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