Sean McVay engineered one of the NFL’s best turnaround stories. And the league gave him some well-deserved recognition as a result.
McVay took home NFL Coach of the Year honors on Saturday. It comes after his Los Angeles Rams finished with 11 wins in his first season as head coach, seven more than the previous season.
Sean McVay Named NFL Coach of the Year
The Rams erased an extended spell of futility in 2017 under McVay. Not only did they make it to the postseason for the first time in 13 seasons. They also finished with 10 or more wins and won a division title for the first time since 2003.
The marked year-over-year improvement from quarterback Jared Goff is another reason McVay won this award. The second-year pro out of California was one of just five NFL signal-callers to finish the 2017 season with a quarterback rating above 100. It’s a far cry from his rookie season where he went 0-7 as a starter and managed a 63.6 passer rating.
McVay wasn’t the only person associated with the Rams to win some hardware on Saturday. The league named Rams running back Todd Gurley its offensive player of the year and Aaron Donald its defensive player of the year. Much like Goff, Gurley experienced a career resurgence in 2017, leading the NFL with 13 rushing touchdowns while finishing second in yards on the ground (1,305) behind rookie phenom Kareem Hunt.
Overall, the Rams offensive resurgence in McVay’s first year as head coach was truly a sight to behold. In 2016, scoring proved to be a challenging prospect as evidenced by their 14 points per game ranking dead last in the league. A year later, that number improved to a league-leading 28.9.
Rams Set Up for Sustained Success Under McVay
Just one season into his head coaching career, McVay is proving to be one of the NFL’s great young minds. It showed in his ability to turn around a moribund franchise in such a short time. Between 2007 and 2016, the Rams finished with the worst record in the NFC West in six seasons. But they’ll come into the 2018 regular season as the reigning division champs and looking to build off last year’s successful campaign. Though it came to a premature end with a home loss in the Wild Card round to the Atlanta Falcons, the future is looking bright. They’re dynamic on both sides of the football and they appear to have their franchise quarterback. Leading it all is McVay who hopes to accomplish big things in the City of Angels.
