Doug Pederson tugged the Eagles to the Super and Bill Belichick can do no wrong, but this year's voters looked elsewhere for the game's most transformative coach.
Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams was announced as the 2017 NFL Coach of the Year during Saturday's NFL Honors award show. McVay received 35 of 50 votes with Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Zimmer (11) and Jacksonville Jaguars coach Doug Marrone (2) also receiving votes. The two Super Bowl LII coaches -- Doug Pederson and Bill Belichick -- each received one vote.
The 32-year-old first-year head coach needed just one season to turn a stagnant, hard-to-watch Rams team in an offensive juggernaut that took the NFC West by storm.
McVay's fingerprints were all over an offense that saw Jared Goff become the game's most-improved quarterback league-wide in just his second pro season -- upping his passer rating from 63.6 to 100.5 -- while leading the Rams to their first division crown since 2003.
McVay's scheme produced the NFL's top scoring offense this season after Los Angeles finished last in points under Jeff Fisher in 2016, making the Rams the first team in the Super Bowl era to flip from worst to first in that category.
McVay also helped Todd Gurley author a comeback season for the ages, wiping away 2016's disappointments with an NFL-best 2,093 yards from scrimmage and the most touchdowns (19) by a Rams player since Marshall Faulk posted 21 in 2001.
It was a night to remember for the Rams as they became the first team in NFL history to win Coach of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year (Gurley) and Defensive Player of the Year (Aaron Donald) honors in the same season.
"People rave about his work ethic, his creativity and his ability to communicate, and for a guy who's that young, it's really, really impressive," Seahawks general manager John Schneider told NFL.com's Michael Silver this season.
"Anybody that spends five minutes with Sean McVay comes away from it and goes, 'Man, that kid's not 31," Rams left tackle Andrew Whitworth also told Silver before McVay turned 32 in January. "It's kind of the same as when you're around a truly great player, a future Hall of Famer. You hear people talk about Jonathan Ogden or Anthony Muñoz or Deion Sanders, and they say, 'You knew from the beginning this guy was gonna be special. You could just tell he's different.' That's how it is with Sean."
