For a week in January, Rams head coach Sean McVay debated his future as a head coach following a disappointing 5-12 season.
But having used that time to reflect, McVay said Friday that he was grateful for the new perspective this gave him, allowing him to recommit to coaching for the long term.
"When you go through some of the things that we went through last year, you can really get lost in things becoming a burden more than a blessing," McVay said. "When you really take a step back and get a chance to reflect, sometimes that reflection is best served after the humbling experiences and the challenging experiences."
Though Los Angeles won Super Bowl LVI just a season ago, the hangover was severe for the team in 2022. The Rams dealt with continuous injuries throughout the roster and trudged toward a frustrating finish in which the Rams were eliminated from postseason contention earlier than any reigning champion since 1999.
After the 2022 season concluded, McVay said he would be stepping away for some time to evaluate his future, the second offseason in a row in which he went through that process. Many speculated that he could be leaving coaching in favor of a broadcasting position, or as the result of burnout from his quick rise as a young head coach followed by the sharp decline this past year.
In the end, McVay said he found that passion for coaching once again and was not satisfied with where he'd be leaving his team if he moved on.
"To say that as a competitor that that's something that I would have felt comfortable walking away with, no," he said. "I would not have felt comfortable walking away from a situation where I think I owed more to the people than that."
While McVay's coaching future has been a topic of discussion each of the last two years, the 37-year-old coach said January's decision marks a long-term commitment, and it was important to him that his reflection period allowed him to come to a decision that's "in alignment for years to come, not an every-year type of deal."
"I'm really committed to not having this become a story every year," he said. "Because I know that's probably something that people are asking or wondering, and I don't take that lightly. That was why the reflection, because there was never a doubt whether you wanted to coach again. It's really just, 'Are you going to be able to have the appropriate perspective to be the best version of yourself for the players and the coaches?' And I feel confident that that can exist moving forward."
Now that McVay has made his decision to stay with the Rams, he has to deal with the realities of the situation the franchise is in. Los Angeles only has a few draft picks, little cap space to spare and major players coming off serious injuries. General manager Les Snead said Thursday that while the team is not undergoing a full rebuild, it will have to "remodel" the roster while adding on to some of its key pieces in order to be competitive again.
And McVay is up for the challenge, saying that even with the work needed to get back to where they were in 2021, he's not counting his team out yet.
"Let's not try to write the story before we've even opened up the first page of the book," McVay said. "Let's figure out what we can do with the circumstances."
