Rams and Seahawks clash on TNF in critical NFC West matchup
Joe Rivera and Chris Bumbaca break down Thursday’s massive NFC West showdown between the Los Angeles Rams and the Seattle Seahawks.
Week 16 of the 2025 NFL season kicked off with one of the best games thus far as the Seattle Seahawks earned a comeback win over the Los Angeles Rams 38-37 in overtime of “Thursday Night Football.”
Los Angeles held a 30-14 lead with just over eight minutes of time left in the fourth quarter when a punt return touchdown by the Seahawks‘ Rashid Shaheed sparked Seattle’s comeback.
It’s the latest in a season of special teams errors for the Rams and the franchise is making a change.
Los Angeles fired their special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn today, per multiple reports. This marks the first mid-season coordinator change in coach Sean McVay’s decade-long tenure with the team.
ESPN sources: Rams fired special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn.
The Rams’ special teams played a role in three of the team’s four losses this season, including Thursday night’s defeat in Seattle, and now changes are being made. pic.twitter.com/m6KVuQpMim
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 20, 2025
Assistant special teams coordinator Ben Kotwica will take Blackburn’s place going forward, a person familiar with the situation confirmed to USA TODAY Sports’ Tyler Dragon.
Los Angeles is on its second kicker of the year, Harrison Mevis, after benching starter Joshua Karty earlier in the season. Karty’s missed extra points in Week 3 against Philadelphia and Week 5 against San Francisco, both close losses. Between him and Mevis, the Rams have made just 75% of their field goals in 2025 – tied for second-worst league-wide behind only the New Orleans Saints (71%).
The Rams also lead the league in most yards allowed per punt return at 16.3.
Blackburn first joined the Rams’ staff as special teams coordinator in 2023. The former linebacker for the New York Giants and Carolina Panthers was the Panthers‘ special teams coordinator from 2018 to 2021. He’d also held assistant special teams roles with the Panthers from 2016 to 2017 and with the Tennessee Titans in 2022.