The Los Angeles Rams were preseason Super Bowl favorites. After six weeks, they're in last place in the NFC West -- even behind the Arizona Cardinals.
The Cardinals were given +25000 Super Bowl odds to Los Angeles' +900, but they stand above their division rival after walking off an 18-16 victory over the Rams and Matthew Stafford Sunday afternoon. It wasn't a fluke win generated by turnovers or bad luck (with the exception of a questionable personal foul call that made Chad Ryland's game-winning kick significantly easier). Arizona had more yards, ran more plays and had nearly 10 more minutes of possession.
This all leads to an uncomfortable discussion revolving around the man who had to be talked out of retirement to stick around in LA. Not Stafford.
Not Aaron Donald. We're talking about head coach Sean McVay.
McVay's tenure with the Rams inspired a wave of imitators and a cascade of cash for the acolytes in his coaching tree.He was 92-57 in the regular season coming into 2026. He's been to the playoffs seven times in nine full seasons and won Super Bowl 56. He has a borderline Hall of Fame coaching resume and is only 40 years old.
But the fatigue is showing. On Sunday, he got beat by first year coach Mike LaFleur because, for long stretches, McVay wasn't coaching against his opponent but coaching against himself.
.@MackWilson coming 🆙 BIG on 4th down 😳 pic.twitter.com/kFDAO0Apqg
— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) October 18, 2026
Take the play above. McVay eschews a field goal attempt after newly signed kicker Blake Grupe was injured early in the game. Even with a healthy kicker, that's a sound decision. But he also eschews two powerful running backs in Kyren Williams, who runs every play like he can travel through time if he hits the hole hard enough, and compact bowling ball of a runner Blake Corum. Neither is a perfect short yardage pick, but Williams is averaging a career high 3.6 yards per carry after contact this season. Corum is at 2.6, but earned first downs on third-and-1 and second-and-1 in the first half.
But they don't get the ball, even on a day where they're averaging nearly 4.9 yards per handoff between them. Instead, that goes to fourth-year tight end Davis Allen, who has never had a carry in his NFL career. Arizona and its top 10 run defense didn't take the bait, then drove 64 yards before kicking a field goal to press its lead to 15-9. A fumble and another turnover on downs ended the next two drives inside Arizona territory with zero points. This all contributed to the kind of introspection that acknowledges a loss while downplaying his opponent's role in it.
Sean McVay said the Rams "won't win a game unless we figure out how not to beat ourselves."
— Sarah Barshop (@sarahbarshop) October 18, 2026
"There is nothing positive that I can say about today," McVay said.
To be sure, the Rams played bad football. Disheveled football. Single-track football with a handful of too-clever-by-half decisions. Stafford was uncharacteristically locked on to targets too long and left to throw too late. His lack of mobility at 38 years old means slow processing can be a death sentence without elite protection. The Cardinals, even with the league's second-worst pressure rate, walked him to the gallows with frustrating regularity.
LJ Collier wanted to take the two-point conversion return all the way 😅
— NFL (@NFL) October 18, 2026
AZvsLAR on FOX/FOX One
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/CCOkklUaau
Stafford needed 33 passes to throw for 222 yards. Three sacks accounted for a loss of 28 more, leaving him at only 5.4 per dropback. The reigning MVP racked up 120.3 expected points added (EPA) in 2025 torank second in the NFL. He slipped to 11th at 20.1 through five games in 2026 and put up a -1.1 against that underwhelming Arizona defense. He can still spin it, but he's hit the point in his career where every offseason brings a reasonable doubt as to whether he'll return for the next fall. Davante Adams turns 34 years old in December. Puka Nacua is prolific but a mess off the field. Aaron Donald had to be coaxed out of retirement just to be here in the first place.
The Rams do not own their first or third-round draft picks in 2027 but have an estimated $78 million in salary cap space next spring. That would be great to spend on luxury additions, but Adams and 80 percent of the starting offensive line are set for free agency, so big name newcomers may be minimal.
This all presents a logical question. McVay had considered leaving coaching behind before. It's clear he's not enjoying his 2-4 start. Could this be his last year on the sideline, even if things get better?
He blamed his post-2022 indecision on his hatred of losing. That year, he followed up a Super Bowl campaign with a disaster of a 5-12 season, losing Stafford to injury (and going 3-6 with him quasi healthy). But even that season he began 3-3. This year, whatever moral victories could be taken from losses to the 49ers, Broncos and Bills were wiped away in a defeat to a team that kicked six field goals and still walked off McVay's home turf with a win.
In 2023, he was a rumored big name in a sea of potential analysts. In 2026 we know where McVay could wind up. Amazon built in a specific out in Kirk Herbstreit's contract that allows the broadcaster to ditch the college football mainstay in favor of the innovative head coach. The money would likely top what he's making in Los Angeles for significantly less work and a fraction of the stress.
Los Angeles has an old core. It's not well enough to win. It will get better when a healthy Myles Garrett returns to the lineup, but an offense defined by rolling blackouts may mean this team never sniffs its preseason potential.
McVay is overthinking. He's frustrated and subject to the thing he reviles most. With a cushy exit strategy available, there is a silver lining. If McVay hates this season as much as he hated 2022, Amazon's always hiring. Only, in his case, it's probably starting at something like $20 million per year.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Sean McVay, you can leave the Rams for Amazon in 13 weeks
