Los Angeles Rams' Super Bowl hangover could prompt Sean McVay to reconsider retirement

Sean McVay wanted to ride off into the sunset. A Super Bowl win over the Cincinnati Bengals fulfilled his coaching ambitions, and there was a lucrative television role on the table for him.

It looked as though the Los Angeles Rams would need to hire a new coach in the 2022 offseason, yet McVay decided to stay.

This decision came as a surprise. When a coach teases retirement, this generally indicates that they have lost motivation. There isn’t anywhere to go after a Super Bowl win other than down. However, few could have envisioned the drop the Rams would face this season.

The Los Angeles Rams have been awful in 2022 and Sean McVay should have retired

The San Francisco 49ers have outclassed Sean McVay's Rams at every turn this season

In the NFC Championship game last season, the Los Angeles Rams narrowly beat the San Francisco 49ers to reach the Super Bowl.

It was the culmination of a project led by Les Snead that saw the team give away draft picks for guaranteed performers.

The roster was stacked, and a Super Bowl win followed.

Fast-forward to Sunday evening, and we saw a limp Rams team get embarrassed by a Dallas Cowboys team that had Cooper Rush at quarterback.

The Rams sit at 2-3 in the NFC West with exactly the same record as the Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks, who were predicted to have difficult seasons.

Von Miller’s departure was always going to be an issue for the Rams. Matthew Stafford’s health isn’t at 100%, and Aaron Donald also hasn’t produced to his usual level.

Donald’s form is a particularly interesting point as he too contemplated retirement, alongside Sean McVay, after their triumph at SoFi Stadium.

After winning a championship, teams need to strengthen. Of course, it’s difficult in the Salary Cap era, but the best run franchises try and reload.

All that the Rams have done is press the ‘continue’ button. Their offseason was hamstrung by the uncertainty surrounding their coach and most important player, and the results in 2022 have echoed that.

Sean McVay is going to regret his decision

Sean McVay could be living a very easy life as a television analyst right now

If this hasn’t started to happen already, then it will soon. Sean McVay will regret his decision to return to the Rams.

The motivation of the roster isn’t the same. The ‘win-or-bust’ mentality that Les Snead’s roster building tactic created is gone.

Winning has been achieved. If you’re going to build a roster with the ultimate goal of just winning, when it happens, you need to perhaps rebuild the roster entirely.

Odell Beckham Jr’s departure has left the team without a key offensive weapon. Cooper Kupp has been left to carry an offense on his own, and that’s very difficult for a wide receiver to do.

The road to getting the Rams winning again is a long one. Does Sean McVay have the desire to steer the ship for the duration of that process? His flirtation with retirement and a move to the booth suggests not.

His coaching reputation won’t take too much of a hit. This is a legitimately elite football mind who has reached two Super Bowls in a short career and won one.

He may merely have needed a break. Dick Vermeil was burnt out by life as an NFL coach and didn’t return for 13 years. There’s nothing wrong with that.

It helped Vermeil become an even better coach, and his subsequent spells with the Rams and Kansas City Chiefs were the high points of his NFL career.

Sean McVay should have done something similar. He should have stuck to his guns and retired. The key is knowing when the tide is turning, when your grip on a roster is slipping.

Everyone knew the Rams were going to decline slightly, and a new head coach may have freshened things up.

For now, McVay has to get to the end of the season with a team that could legitimately miss the playoffs.

They haven’t been good enough and a failure on that scale will definitely knock Sean McVay.

If he takes a hiatus and then starts getting linked with jobs, the talk won’t be about a Super Bowl winner returning, as is the case with Bill Cowher, but rather someone who was last in the NFL as a struggling coach in Los Angeles.

Can the Los Angeles Rams’ season be rescued?

At present, there is an overriding belief that the Rams will find form eventually. Following this, it is likely that Sean McVay will retire at the end of the season.

But before that point is there anything the franchise can do to reach the playoffs?

The 49ers are looking infinitely strong with Deebo Samuel carrying his 2021 form into this season. Jimmy Garoppolo will not guide the team to a title, but the playoffs are a certainty.

As such, the Rams will not be able to win their division unless a miracle happens. Aaron Donald needs to rediscover his form and become the disruptive defensive presence we know he is.

Reaching the playoffs will require the Rams to have a strong record. They can’t keep floating along under .500.

Sean McVay will need to come up with some brilliant coaching to rejuvenate his roster. Yet, this is something he is definitely capable of.

A difficult season isn’t yet beyond repair. The Rams have good enough players to improve, but it will take McVay’s best coaching. Does he have the motivation for this? Only time will tell, but the 2022 seaso, thus far, has shown that retirement would've been for the best.