Sean McVay gave one of his top coaches a prime opportunity that could lead to his exit from the Rams after the 2025 season
The Los Angeles Rams dominated the Arizona Cardinals, but it was offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur who stole the show on Sunday
The Los Angeles Rams have been a head coaching pipeline ever since Sean McVay took over as head coach in 2017. During McVay’s tenure, six different assistants have been hired as head coaches, while another eight have been hired as coordinators elsewhere, giving him 14 prominent coaches in just eight seasons at the helm of the Rams. That isn’t even counting names like Jedd Fisch or Eric Henderson, who are HCs and DCs in college.
It was a running joke that anyone that breathed near McVay was interviewed for a head coaching position, but there’s a strong needle of truth in that joke. Rams’ defensive coordinator Chris Shula has already garnered plenty of head coaching buzz, but it’s another McVay assistant who made some waves over the past weekend, and auditioned his own ability to serve as a head coach of a team.
Mike LaFleur makes his own head coach audition vs Cardinals
If you don’t know the story that broke over the weekend, Sean McVay came down with a serious illness towards the end of the week that actually forced him to travel separately from the team. Whatever illness he had was so bad the team didn’t even hold meetings or go through walkthroughs on Saturday. It evidently didn’t matter, as the Rams walked into Arizona and smacked the Cardinals around 45-17. The Rams had a 70% success rate on offense, the third-highest total of any single game since 2020.
McVay said after the game that it was offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur who called the plays against the Cardinals, casually dropping 45 points and one of the best single-game success rates of the last five years. McVay said after the game that LaFleur “did a phenomenal job and made some great decisions”. According to ESPN, Sunday’s game was the first time the Rams have scored three passing touchdowns and three rushing touchdowns in a game since December 30th, 2001.
Additionally, LaFleur was the one handling the offensive gameplanning heading into Sunday. With McVay sidelined and ill, it was LaFleur who filled in and led the charge for the team this week. The Rams needed to rebound after a surprising loss last week to the Panthers, and McVay not being around could have been problematic. Kudos to LaFleur for stepping up to fill in for him and helping lead the Rams to one of their best days of the season and in recent memory.
LaFleur has never gotten consideration for head coaching jobs, as he was fired (after getting blood from a stone) from the New York Jets, and many considered McVay to be the brains behind the whole operation. However, Sunday illustrated the opposite. LaFleur has just as big of an impact as the other coaches McVay has had in this role (Kevin O’Connell, Liam Coen, Matt LaFleur), and has the acumen to lead the offense (and team) on his own without being in the shadow of McVay.
It might be another coaching cycle for the Rams where they lose both coordinators to head coaching jobs elsewhere.
Los Angeles Rams News
The Rams could suffer a major loss after latest college football shakeup and there’s nothing they can do to stop it
The Los Angeles Rams could lose a key assistant in Nate Scheelhaase to the Iowa State Cyclones
