1. On Sunday, Sean McVay will coach in his second Super Bowl before the age of 40. Which sounds impressive, but he’s averaging only a Super Bowl every 18 years of his life. At this pace, he’ll still only tie Tom Landry for third alltime in Super Bowls coached, with five, and that’s only if he hits age 90, which is still a bit north of life-expectancy circa 2070.
But let’s set the future aside and focus on the present. On Sunday McVay’s Super Bowl counterpart will be a former assistant coach of his, rather than the greatest coach of alltime. It seems the mistake McVay made last time around, in a Super Bowl LIII loss, was going in with a pretty firm game plan for Belichick’s Patriots, only to watch the Patriots throw a series of curveballs (a 6–1 front, but more notably, a secondary that rarely played—and was not built for—quarters coverage going heavy on such zone looks). McVay and the Rams offense seemed to be finding a rhythm by the third quarter, but the Patrick Chung injury forced New England to adjust, and by the time L.A. had adjusted to the readjustment the game was already over because they only let you play for 60 minutes if the game isn’t tied.
From the Rams’ perspective, one positive about facing a Bengals defense that showed a little bit of everything defensively this season is that they therefore have to be prepared for anything. Cincinnati turned to heavy coverage in the AFC title game win over the Chiefs, dropping seven and often eight into coverage against Patrick Mahomes, shutting him out in the second half until a last-second field goal. That is how most defenses are now attacking elite quarterbacks, so Matthew Stafford can expect to see a mix of coverages, but probably not see many blitzes against a defense that just doesn’t blitz often anyway.
More than anything, I’d expect McVay to be very flexible going into Sunday. That means a feeling-out period over the first couple of drives as he tries to get a bead on what Lou Anarumo is throwing at him. The Bengals are a very good team, and a bad bounce or two can swing this game, but ultimately, a more patient approach from McVay and a general lack of flukiness over 60 minutes should result in a Rams win.
