Sean McVay - Head Coach, rams Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-11 | Full transcript (primary source).
Sean McVay, Head Coach of the Rams, addressed the media following a challenging game against the 49ers on September 11, 2026. In the press conference, he reflected on the team's performance, acknowledging areas for improvement and emphasizing the need for collective accountability moving forward.
Transcript
McVay: I didn't do nearly a good enough job. This is a humbling day for us. And this will define us only if we allow it to. And today was one of those days. And I always look inside out. I didn't do a good enough job getting us ready to go. There were some opportunities where maybe the game could have flipped, but they deserved the win. They were ready to go. And we'll look at it. We'll see where we can improve and be better moving forward. But this is a good humbling day. This is what can sometimes happen in sports. I love this locker room. And the first thing that I'm going to look at is myself. And I have to do a better job for a group collectively with our coaches, with our players. And we'll look at this film, and we'll get back to work. Because clearly, that's obviously what we've got to do. And sometimes sports can humble you. And today was one of those days. I make no excuses. And whether you want to say it's about travel, whatever, we just weren't good enough in that window. I didn't coach good enough. And we'll look at it, and we'll move forward. And that's where we're at right now. But it was a great atmosphere. Give credit to the 49ers. They deserve it. And we're on one, and we'll move forward.
McVay: I think there was opportunities in the second half. It's a three-point game at half. They did a good job getting that drive. We go right down the field. And then we don't get in on the QB sneak. And then things kind of just got out of hand from there. But there was a lot of things that didn't go well. But I think the first thing I look at it is, where can I improve? Where can I put our players in better positions to have successful outcomes? I love that locker room. I love those guys. And this story is far from written. And I know there's going to be a lot of narratives that appropriately put the blame on me, and then we'll move forward the right way. I don't believe that that's why we didn't play well enough. I really don't. And I can listen. I'm more than comfortable with, hey, that's something that I'll always make decisions that I think are best for the football team. It's easy in hindsight to be able to say, it was a miss. But those are responsibilities that I'll take. And then you try to be able to look at it. I'll always look at myself inside out and figure out where I can improve.
McVay: Gary, today was really just not good enough in terms of feeling the flow of the game, being able to give ourselves an opportunity to snatch some momentum when there was opportunities. Didn't think we communicated very well on both sides of the football. We obviously weren't very efficient in the kicking game either. And so they all played us in every phase. They deserved the win. I think that's really what it boils down to. And sometimes sports can have days like that. And like I said, this will only define us if we allow it to. And I'm looking forward to leaning in, going back to work. And today was humbling. But sometimes life can do that to you. And we've got a lot of football left. And we're not going to allow this one game to do anything other than help us learn and grow.
McVay: Yeah, I think the first thing is you address it. If everybody can take accountability for where they can improve for the collective, and that's the first thing I want to do. I've got a lot of areas that I can improve on. We'll look at the tape. We'll figure out how to put our players in better positions for those successful outcomes. And we'll go back to work. The work does work. But there's been a handful of humbling moments that we've had. And this is certainly one of them.
McVay: Yeah, they did. I thought we were ready to go. And obviously, we just didn't play good enough. You give the Niners credit. They were sharp in all three phases. They did a really good job. And we were never able to really get any continuity going offensively when we were able to get some drives going. We weren't able to finish it with points. But again, I look at nobody but myself. And I have to do a much better job. And then defensively, we had some chances and couldn't necessarily get off the grass. And we struggled in the kicking game as well.
McVay: To my knowledge, yeah. We did, yeah. Apologize for not putting on a better performance. It was an amazing atmosphere. You could just feel there was a buzz even when we got in. And unfortunately, it wasn't a good day for us. But you could definitely feel the fans. And we were very appreciative of that.
McVay: Yeah, I mean, I thought once we got the touchdown drive going to be able to take the lead, I thought we got some good defensive stops. Even when we had the one drive where we turned it over on our sideline, we had some good momentum on that drive. And they got the touchdown coming out of the second half, which was difficult. But the offense went right down the field and did not be able to punch that in. That was challenging. And I think the game flipped from there when they go 99 after that. But again, we got outplayed. They did a good job. We didn't. And there's a lot of football left to be played. And I love that locker room. I love our coaching staff. And today will be an opportunity for us to learn. And we're going to find out what we're about. And I'm excited to be able to lean in. And certainly, I make no excuses. And it starts with me. And I got to do a better job for our group.
McVay: Yeah, I just didn't think we really distributed the field. We never really got into a rhythm. I think it was hard for us, just overall. Coaches and players. And sometimes there's days like that. Nate, today was certainly one of them. And we'll go back and we'll look at it. And we'll figure out where we can improve. And I'm excited to be able to do that, because that's the only option that we have.
McVay: Well, certainly, it wasn't about embracing. We thought that was the best plan of attack in terms of our approach. We didn't have the result that we wanted today. But you could certainly say it was great to be able to get the feel for the culture here. That didn't have anything to do with us not wanting to embrace that. It was just what we thought was best. And fortunately, we didn't have the result that we wanted and didn't play the way that we were capable of or coach.
McVay: Yeah, that was it. You nailed it. We didn't play well enough. Obviously, never got into a rhythm. Only had probably two good drives, honest with you the entire day. One of them ends up on a touchdown. The next one we get down to the one yard line, don't get in. So not enough good stuff on offense. We didn't do the things that we are accustomed to doing. That's just communicating, operating, being on the same page. Too many times we were on different pages. That starts with me. I'm the guy that's communicating all that stuff, so I got to make sure I do a better job, make sure we're all on the same page and we can rock and roll out there and go play the game. And it felt like we were fighting ourselves a little bit today. And obviously, not the way you want to start the season, but a lot of football left and opportunities with the right kind of people and the right coaches and everybody to go out there and fix it and move forward.
McVay: I don't. I think when the ball is kicked off, we're ready to go play. We didn't do it at a high enough clip today.
McVay: Really, what was the score? Was it 10-7 when we went down and got it down to the one yard line? Might have been 14-7 or 17-7 at that point. We get a drive down there to go try and score a touchdown. We don't punch it in there. They go 99 and score. And I believe that's the chain of events. I might be a little bit off, but chances to regain some momentum in this game, we did not do it. San Francisco got to give them a lot of credit, played really well on all sides. Defense, kicking game, had a bigger turn, and obviously did kind of what they wanted with us on the offensive side.
McVay: Yeah. Yep. I just got to find a way to get in.
McVay: Yeah, I mean, I think we look at this tape. I don't think preseason has anything to do with what happened out here today. Obviously, that's been a strategy that I've used around here for a long time. It's something that I'm accustomed to. Each three and a half hour window is an opportunity to go out there and either play well or not. We obviously did not do that today. Plenty of opportunities, too, and time to go clean that up and make sure that we're ready to rock and roll week two.
McVay: Possibly haven't done it before, but we'll see what we got. We don't play till next Monday night, so we have a little bit of time, which quite frankly is going to be not fun because you would rather be coming home with a win and feeling good. But plenty of stuff to clean up, things to look at. We'll make sure we're ready to roll.
McVay: Yeah, I don't think you're, I don't know, surprise not the word. This point in the way it worked out for us, obviously, didn't move the ball consistently enough, didn't put enough points up on the board to give ourselves a chance to be in the game. Every game and every season is a new one. Go out there and find a way to clean things up, move forward, and be better.
McVay: Yeah, it was a cool atmosphere. Getting into it, obviously, a bunch of stuff going on in between series and before the game and on halftime, all that kind of stuff. Fans were great to us, but we didn't give much cheer about today.
McVay: Yeah, sure. It'd be good to get back home. I think we play on every day of the week this year, so it'll be, I don't know what is going to be normal, but we're excited to get back and obviously figure out how we can be better, so we go out there and play a little bit better next week. We've got to be better, myself especially. We're doing nice gear as we want it to. We've got to beat on all three phases, and we have to do more. There's a lot more on this team that can be done, and it starts with us as leaders.
McVay: Yeah. The whole Australia experience. How's it gone? We didn't have much of Australia experience. When we came in, had the plan that we executed, and we just did nice gear on the field.
McVay: Do you wish it was different? I'm not sure. We probably should have done it on its own. No, I don't doubt the decision-making of my coach and my organization. I think they did what was best for us, and we didn't execute on the field when we needed to. That's what came out today. Appreciate them coming, whether it's from another state or anywhere else or none of the fans that we have here. This is a representation of who we are as a team and what we want to achieve and who we can be, so we'll be better.
McVay: No, no. I mean, this was the worst version of myself that I've put out there. Now I've got to be better. I've got to find a way to recover and get back to the player I know I can be, and I've shown that I've been before.
McVay: Is there anything unique in the 49ers that you're doing that made it hard to get after the quarterback or make the impact of the normally? I think they mixed it up well, but they weren't doing anything specifically different. No, we just didn't play our brand of ball.
McVay: Under different circumstances, does it seem more Australian? Absolutely. Sometime in the off-season, that'd be something I would look forward to, but I've got to focus on what we're doing right now.
McVay: Resilience. We knew we were going to face some adversity during the season, and trying to find out it's game one. So I know we've got to find out where it's resilient, as we say it, and much that we've shown throughout the pre-season and just taking one game at a time.
McVay: I don't want to get too far into that. I want a player that I wanted to be. I didn't feel like I was the player I've been before when I stepped onto that field, but I've got to do what I can to get back to that.
McVay: One of them. Chair, number one focus, coming up against the joints yourself first. Getting healthy. That's the main thing. I mean, when I was out there, I was a little bit more focused on myself and trying to stay healthy than know what they were doing, and that showed I wasn't who I needed to be for my team.
McVay: What did you feel like was so long? Yeah, I'm not exactly sure. We'll have to go back and check the tape. There's definitely a few moments where there's opportunity for that momentum to shift, and it just didn't go our way. And then I know defensively, any time we let a team drive from their own one and score a touchdown, we're not going to win a whole lot of games that way. So, obviously the 49ers are a good team. We knew that coming in. That's a rivalry, and we knew that we were going to get their best shot. They got the better of us today. We got to snap back stronger.
McVay: You can get the end result, and you want to do it again in community games to come out and play from these many people? Yeah, I think it was a great experience to be able to bring this sport to this continent, to this country. And I think it's a special experience to be able to come out, see the MCG packed out, be able to look all around the entire bowl and see all of those seats be filled. So, definitely appreciative to the fans here in Australia. And it's a great experience to be able to bring that game over.
McVay: Not at all. I'll continue to say it. I think we have the best strength sports training staff, and they put us in the right position. We took the same steps last year when we went to go play the Jaguars in London and we beat them. So, at the end of the day, we showed up on this field at 1030. They showed up at the field at 1030. They got the better of us today.
McVay: I felt fine. I felt fine. Yeah, there's no excuse for how we go out and play. At the end of the day, when the lights shut on and when that whistle goes, it's about what we put out. And again, the amount of confidence and trust that we have in our performance staff is unmatched. And so, yeah, there's no other reason than us not going out and executing and being able to take advantage of some of those moments to earn that momentum back.
McVay: Yeah, we know we have the right people in this building to be able to use this as momentum. And we've had that time and time again. We've talked about it. You're either walking into the storm. You're either in the middle of it or you're coming out of it. And we know exactly the type of guys that we have. We're gonna be inside out more than ever. And it's a great opportunity, setbacks or setups to have greater comebacks. And so, we're gonna approach it that way. We're gonna go and have the best week of practice that we've ever had. And that's just the standard that we have. And at the end of the day, we're gonna uphold our standard and continue moving forward.
McVay: It was a little bit of a different feeling. I don't think that definitely didn't affect the game at all. But it just was kind of an international game feel. It feels a little bit different when you're playing internationally. But again, even for them to be so far away, you definitely felt their presence to be able to have 100,000 strong and to be able to look all around in whatever color jersey it was, whether it was red, whether it was blue, whether it was another team in the NFL, to just see the support that the Australians brought out here for the NFL in general was really cool to see.
McVay: Yeah, they set all that up. Our traditional pregame meal stuff and the way that we timed it out to try to stay in rhythm as much as possible. So again, our performance staff is, in my opinion, the best in the world. And they set us up to be able to prepare us for this moment. At the end of the day, I'm just kind of trying to work out there. And we see whatever we can see on the sidelines. There's little pictures here and there. But we're gonna continue to do a good job of being connected and figuring out what we can do to help manage things and to stay united and to stay together.
McVay: Are you sure you think it's very important? We didn't talk too much about it on the field. Got to talk a little bit afterwards. And yeah, and we'll be able to see the tape and we'll be able to continue to get a good feel of how we play and different ways that we can help each other out if he's feeling a little bit of something or shoot, if I'm feeling a little something, how can we just help each other out and be able to create some success?
McVay: Yeah, I think they had a really good game plan. A lot of times they get the ball out quick. There's a couple of times where they held onto the ball and we have to do a much better job of getting after the passer. But when you look at the way that they chipped, the way that they stayed a little tighter in their formations to try to keep us from working how we normally do on the inside, I think they had a really good game plan and it's gonna be something that's good for us to look at and to understand too how teams going forward or are gonna try to stop our rush and so that we can attack that head on and we can figure out what's our solution, how do we just play fast? And at the end of the day, that's what it comes on to being able to play fast, being able to trust each other, to trust your dance partner as you will and to be able to rush for as one. So that's something that we're gonna continue to understand and looking at this tape it's gonna be an opportunity to get a lot better.
