{"id":688896,"date":"2026-01-19T15:03:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T15:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/688896\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T15:03:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T15:03:16","slug":"rams-sean-mcvay-critical-of-his-own-bad-coaching-in-playoff-win-over-bears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/688896\/","title":{"rendered":"Rams’ Sean McVay critical of his own ‘bad coaching’ in playoff win over Bears"},"content":{"rendered":"

Los Angeles Rams<\/a> quarterback Matthew Stafford<\/a> shook his head in disbelief on the sideline after an ill-fated third down decision led to an overtime punt with his team’s season hanging in the balance during Sunday night’s NFC divisional round playoff game against the Chicago Bears<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The MVP candidate got another opportunity, however, connecting on several clutch throws on the Rams’ next possession that led to a game-winning field goal in a 20-17 final to clinch a spot in the NFC Championship against the Seattle Seahawks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After the win, Rams coach Sean McVay was critical of his own play-calling and grateful it didn’t prove costly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We start off, you feel like you’re getting a little bit of momentum,” McVay said<\/a>. “I make a terrible third-down-and-1 call. No excuse for that. Should’ve used the timeout. They did a good job of having a good call on there and we had to punt it out.”<\/p>\n

The Rams’ three-and-out on their first possession of the extra session came after a misdirection pitch to Blake Corum<\/a> lost two yards at their own 35-yard line. It was the third straight overtime run play for Los Angeles, whose quarterback, Stafford, led the NFL<\/a> in passing yards and touchdowns this season.<\/p>\n

“I felt like when we had possessed the ball first, I thought that possession was really going to cost us,” McVay said. “There’s no excuse for that. I have to be better for our group, I will be better for our group.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

NFL conference title game lookahead: Odds, matchup breakdowns, TV times, early picks for AFC, NFC winners<\/p>\n

\n Garrett Podell <\/p>\n

\"NFL<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The Rams recovered after swiping their third interception of Caleb Williams<\/a> on Chicago’s ensuing possession. Los Angeles stopped the Bears<\/a> three times on fourth down during the contest and overcame Williams’ heroics in the final minute of the fourth quarter<\/a> after he found Cole Kmet<\/a> on a 14-yard touchdown pass to tie the game.<\/p>\n

“I did not like the feel for the flow of the game outside of the first series where our guys did a great job,” McVay said. “Defensively, it kept us in it in spite of how poor of a job I did for our group. But like I said, I’m really grateful for this group being able to find a way, stick with it and be able to overcome some bad coaching by me tonight.”<\/p>\n

Chicago stifled one of the league’s highest-powered offenses throughout, but Stafford was confident he could lead the Rams on a game-winning drive following Kam Curl’s diving interception in overtime.<\/p>\n

Stafford finished 20 of 42 for 258 yards, including three completions to move the chains on the final drive to Colby Parkinson<\/a>, Davante Adams<\/a> and Puka Nacua<\/a>. The 16-yard toss to Nacua came on third-and-6 against pressure and put Los Angeles at the Bears’ 27-yard line, setting up the winning kick — a 42-yard strike by Harrison Mevis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“I looked right at Sean, he looked at me \u2026 and was like here we go,” Stafford said before the Rams’ last possession. “That’s what it’s all about. What an unbelievable job by our defense today getting us the ball over and over again. Whether it be fourth-down stops or turnovers, they were clutch and timely. That’s what it takes to win in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

“Sometimes offense is gonna go out and have a great day and find a way to win it, and sometimes defense is going to have a day like they did today and keep us in it for as long as they did and then make the play to get us the ball back. It’s a team effort. We’ve got a resilient group. Love being part of it. Obviously, things we can do better, but we found a way to win the football game and in January and February that’s what matters.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford shook his head in disbelief on the sideline after an ill-fated third…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":688897,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[77],"tags":[4084,1036,391,7391,5430,7,32433,58,32,112,6,97753,80899,50185,41483,94988,84,1088,424,98611,100607,3307,18902],"class_list":{"0":"post-688896","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-playoffs","8":"tag-blake-corum","9":"tag-caleb-williams","10":"tag-chicago-bears","11":"tag-colby-parkinson","12":"tag-davante-adams","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-harrison-mevis","15":"tag-los-angeles-rams","16":"tag-matthew-stafford","17":"tag-nfc-championship","18":"tag-nfl","19":"tag-nfl-divisional-round","20":"tag-nfl-playoff-bracket","21":"tag-nfl-playoff-odds","22":"tag-nfl-playoff-predictions","23":"tag-nfl-playoff-schedule","24":"tag-nfl-playoffs","25":"tag-puka-nacua","26":"tag-rams","27":"tag-rams-bears","28":"tag-rams-seahawks","29":"tag-sean-mcvay","30":"tag-super-bowl-odds"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115922378425423569","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=688896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/688897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=688896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=688896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=688896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}