A 27-7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers was hardly the way Sean McVay wanted to begin another Super Bowl season. Matthew Stafford and the Rams’ star failed to live up to the hype. Fans and critics blamed McVay’s scheduling for the Rams arriving 28 hours before the game, causing the loss. But McVay revealed situations that almost made him quit, as he confessed on CBS Network.
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“My identity was so tied up in winning and losing games, and that was where I felt like my self-worth lied and it was very revealing of how fragile I was and all the insecurities that I did have,” said Sean McVay on the 60 Minutes news magazine broadcast on CBS Network.
After winning Super Bowl LVI, the Rams endured a 5-12 season in 2022, the worst record by a defending Super Bowl champion at that time. For McVay, that fall from champion to disappointment forced him to confront how closely he had connected his identity to winning.
“I was ready to run away from coaching and hide behind a convenient narrative of some media opportunities. I’ll never forget, I was explaining to my wife, Veronica. It was a daunting task ahead for the 23 season, and I remember telling her maybe I’ll take a year off, and she said, ‘That never sounded like the kind of leader you wanted to be.”
McVay’s confession showed just how the post-Super Bowl downturn affected the head coach. After leading Los Angeles to its first Super Bowl title and returning to the city, he considered taking the 2023 season away from football and pursuing media opportunities.
But his wife, Veronica, challenged that decision, and the coach later acknowledged that the conversation was a wake-up call he needed. He admitted that he wanted to quit because he was not ready to handle the losses.
The comment was shocking because McVay’s rise has been very fast. The 30-year-old coach was hired in 2017, making him the youngest HC in NFL history. He transformed the franchise, taking the Rams to the playoffs in his first season and earning Coach of the Year honors.
Four years later, in 2021, McVay achieved his goal as he defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in Super Bowl LVI. He became the youngest HC to win the Lombardi Trophy. Yet the championship did not give the lasting satisfaction he expected.
“Lies, I told myself, for once we win a Super Bowl, I’ll be happy,” McVay added.
The following losing season instead showed him the insecurities that had been hidden behind the success. He returned for the 2023 season, and the franchise responded by rebuilding. They finished 10-7 and reached the playoffs, beginning a run in which the Rams made the postseason seven times since McVay arrived.
He knew what it felt like to watch a season slip away. In 2024, he made a remarkable turnaround as the Rams stumbled to a 1-4 start, winning nine of 12 games to win the NFC West. They beat the Vikings 27-9 in the Wild Card Round, as their season ended with a narrow 28-22 loss to Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in the divisional round.
Last season, the team finished the regular season with a 12-5 record before losing the NFC Championship Game 31-27 against the Seattle Seahawks. Nearly a decade into the Rams’ tenure, McVay had learned that his emotional triggers had become part of his development.
But his confession shows that even the architect of a Super Bowl championship once came close to walking away, not because he lost his ambition but because winning had become utterly important to who he believed he was.