Sean McVay’s rise to the top was fast, reaching the Super Bowl in his second season with the Los Angeles Rams and winning a world title in Year 5. Then the crash of 2022 hit.
That season, the Rams went 5-12, lost just about all of their best players to injuries and faced a painful rebuild due to salary cap constraints. That challenging season nearly broke McVay, who had reached the pinnacle of the sport just one year prior.
He considered leaving coaching to become a TV analyst, which he says would’ve just been an excuse for him to quit coaching.
On the “Bussin’ With The Boys” podcast this week, McVay opened up about that difficult 2022 season and the impact it had on him as not only a coach, but as a person. He admitted he “almost quit coaching” because he “couldn’t handle the losing.”
It even got to the point that he was counting down the days for the 2022 season to end.
“It took that 5-12 year where you’re really getting broken down and I almost quit coaching,” McVay said. “You could use the narrative that I was going to go to media or whatever, but the truth would have been, I was quitting because I couldn’t handle the losing.
“There was moments you think about – it’s so crazy to me – I was counting down the days for that season to be over. Like, what a fraud.”
McVay leaned on those closest to him, including his wife and friends. He sought the advice of Andrew Whitworth, Chris Peterson and others, who let him know that he would probably regret the decision to walk away if he went down that route.
Part of the reason McVay considered quitting coaching was that the Rams were in for a tough offseason in 2023. They had little cap space and he knew they would have to part ways with some of their best players, including Jalen Ramsey, Bobby Wagner and Leonard Floyd.
But it was his wife’s words that hit the hardest. She told McVay that stepping away wouldn’t be in line with the type of leader he wanted to become.
“I remember explaining the situation to my wife Veronika. She is so tough, so steady, so loving and considerate, but so real to me,” McVay said. “She’s so independent, born and raised in Ukraine — and you talk about real perspective from what her family has gone through and how she’s handled it. I was explaining to her, maybe I’ll step away, it’s going to be a really tough upcoming season.
“I had some (TV) opportunities and if I had done that, I would have conveniently hid behind that. But the reality is, I would have been quitting. I’ll never forget, I was explaining the situation to my wife. Basically, I was trying to rationalize and justify why I should do it. It’s like ‘OK, let’s step away, maybe even come back to coaching. We’re going to have a lot of tough decisions to make.’ And it coincided with her being pregnant with our oldest, Jordan. And I remember I was explaining it, and she just kind of looked at me, and it was very loving and supportive, but it was like it is only coming from your wife where it really landed the punch and she’s like, ‘You know, that never really sounded like the kind of leader you wanted to be.’”
McVay says it hit him “like a ton of bricks,” as did the thought of not being the proper role model for his son down the road.
“And I was like, boom,” McVay said. “It landed the punch. … I remember in that moment, it hit me like a ton of bricks and I also remember thinking to myself that the most important thing I’ve always wanted to do was be a father and be a husband. And I’ll never be able to look at my little boy when he grows up and goes through adversity and say, ‘Do as I say, not as I did.’ And that was when immediately, you’re like, ‘I’ll never be able to live with myself if I did this.’ But it took a lot of work.”
There’s no question now that McVay would’ve regretted leaving the coaching ranks. Even though he hasn’t won another Super Bowl in the three years since, he’s led the Rams to three straight playoff appearances, including a run to the NFC title game last season.
And coming out of that low point, he says he likes the person he is now better than the person he was previously. That downturn in 2022 was what he needed to realize he isn’t defined by football, which has made him a better coach and man.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Sean McVay opens up about nearly quitting coaching: ‘Couldn’t handle the losing’
Reporting by Cameron DaSilva, Rams Wire / Rams Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
