The Sean McVay coaching tree is being raided once again, and the timing couldn’t be more challenging for the Los Angeles Rams. Ahead of the high-stakes showdown against the Chicago Bears, three of McVay’s top lieutenants are scheduled for head-coaching interviews.

Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer broke the disastrous news for McVay. In total, nine interviews are scheduled for three key coordinators: Defensive coordinator Chris Shula, Offensive Coordinator Mike LaFleur, and Passing Game Coordinator Nate Scheelhaase. 

The tension is expected to be intense within the Rams organization. 

The most sought-after commodity is Chris, the grandson of the legendary Don Shula. Ever since joining McVay’s staff, he’s been rising on the charts. His defensive brilliance is the reason Los Angeles’ defense has thrived even without Aaron Donald. 

He’s being courted by the Steelers, Ravens, and the Dolphins today, and reportedly has even more requests on the table, but he’s likely to defer those until after the divisional round. 

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Then, there is OC LaFluer, aka McVay’s right-hand man on offense. The Rams’ offense scorecard is evidence of why’s bein chased by the Cardinals and the Raiders.  In 2025, they led the league in total offense (with the best 394.5 yards per game), passing offense (with the best 268.1 passing yards per game), and scoring offense (with 30.5 points scored on average). 

Among these, Scheelhaase has the busiest ‘dance card’ of the day, with four interviews lined up for the Browns, Steelers, Ravens, and Raiders. 

Fans may be reminded of Brutus, but Shula clarified that his interviews haven’t come in the way of divisional round game prep. He ensured to schedule these after the “game plan and stuff” was over, making it just another task on his TO-DO list. LaFluer, too, emphaized that Rams are his top priority. 

Given the timing of these interviews, McVay is maintaining a strict boundary. The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue revealed that the Rams head coach has a clear policy for those looking to move up: keep the job hunt out of the film room. 

“Don’t ask me about interview stuff when we’re in the middle of game planning,” he told his staff. 

This came from someone who never shuts his door when his assistants need any advice regarding their careers. But now, it feels necessary to ensure their remained entirely on the Bears and the pursuit of another Lombardi Trophy. 

That’s the reason his assistants waited until after Friday’s practice to begin their virtual meetings. 

In the back of his mind, McVay is not “concerned about it being a distraction” because he trusts his coaching staff. He’s considering these scheduled interviews as “get-to-know-each-other.” 

If anything, the head coach is rather happy to see his assistants in such high demand, acknowledging the great leaders he has on his coaching staff. And if history has taught him anything, his coordinators will most likely land another position with nine coaching vacancies across the NFL. 

Sean McVay’s history of developing head coaches

McVay has a special talent for picking and training great coaches. Because of this, many of his assistants have landed head coach positions, creating one of the biggest coaching trees in gridiron. It started as early as his debut season, 2017. 

He was hired as head coach, and Matt LaFleur was serving as OC. He left after a season to join the Tennessee Titans for the same position before the Packers hired him as head coach in 2019. Even today, he works closely with McVay as the two “watch the tape [and] do our work” together. 

In 2017, McVay also hired Zac Taylor as assistant wide receivers’ coach before he was hired by the Bengals as head coach. 

The trend didn’t stop there. Brandon Staley, who was the Rams’ DC in 2020, was hired by the Chargers as head coach in 2021. Kevin O’Connell took over the Vikings after serving as OC in Los Angeles and leading them to Super Bowl LVI. 

Recently, even more names have been added to the list: Raheem Morris (formerly a DC in McVay’s staff for three seasons) became the head coach of the Falcons in 2024. Liam Coen, who was the Rams’ OC in 2022, became the head coach ofthe  Jaguars. Over these years, it has become a norm that if you work for McVay, there’s a good chance you’ll be running your own team soon.