Everyone copes with losing in their own way. For Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay, his team’s Super Bowl LIII loss led to plenty of booze and even more lamenting of his own performance.
McVay has been incredibly candid about his own coaching performance in the Rams’ 13-3 loss to the New England Patriots. After seeing his offense set records all season long, McVay and Co. couldn’t solve the Bill Belichick puzzle. And while there’s no shame in coming up short against Belichick, McVay sounds like he’s still sorting through what happened.
“When you look at those couple of weeks, there’s an element of you want to work hard, but you also want to work smart,” McVay said on Barstool Sports’ “Pardon My Take” podcast in reference to the two-week buildup to the Super Bowl. “You can have so many different things and not be mindful of the progression of the season. You think about just there’s usually about a four- to six-game span you’re operating on while still being mindful of situations. And then you’ve got two weeks and you don’t want to short yourself.”
It’s not the first time McVay has opened up about being a little too prepared, but he also admitted he could have done a better job of adjusting his game plan.
“I’d be lying if I said that if things go a little off-track, you probably have too many thoughts in your head (and) you would have a different rhythm. I don’t necessarily know if you’re working any less hard for the preparation, but you know, Coach Belichick and the Patriots are the standard right now.”
McVay, a perpetually positive person, had a perfectly relatable reaction to the loss, though.
When asked how he coped with the defeat, McVay revealed he did “a lot of drinking.”
McVay also spoke about his relationship with Belichick.
“I got a chance to meet him a year ago. He’s been really good to me,” McVay said. “It was more of a couple games and then you say something and it kind of gets blown out of proportion.”