One thing most Seattle Seahawks fans can agree on is that the NFC West is nearly full of great head coaches. The Arizona Cardinals currently are without one, but they also lack many fans who care. The Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams are in completely different situations.
Mike Macdonald is an elite defensive coach, and Sean McVay is an elite offensive coach. Both appear to be great head coaches as well. While Seattle and LA each have a lot of talent, perhaps the biggest reason they will face off to play in the Super Bowl is because of their coach's high-level decisions during games.
McVay, though, blamed himself after his team snuck by the Chicago Bears in the Divisional Round to set up a matchup with Seattle. Should the Rams have won more easily? McVay certainly implied that.
Sean McVay makes stunning admission ahead of matchup with the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship game
He told reporters after the game, "Offensively, man, I did not do a very good job for our group tonight...I did not like the feel for the flow of the game that I had outside of the first series, where our guys did a great job...But like I said, I'm really grateful for this group being able to find a way, stick with it, and be able to overcome some bad coaching by me tonight."
Let's hope whatever bad decisions he is discussing keep being made in the NFC Championship game. As brilliant as Macdonald is defensively, McVay is his match offensively. After all, while Seattle defeated LA in Week 16, the Rams still had 26 first downs and 581 total yards. Each team averaged a high 6.6 yards per play.
The Seahawks won because of a bit of Rashid Shaheed magic with a punt return with his team down 30-14, and then some 2-point conversion success. That isn't a recipe for long-term success. Seattle has to be better defensively in the NFC Championship than they were in Week 16.
Expecting Sean McVay to keep making poor decisions, if he indeed did do that, is foolish. He has been too successful for too long. He will have a game plan that is difficult for the Seattle Seahawks to defend. Macdonald and Seattle were able to slow McVay and LA in Week 11, however.
In that game, a 21-19 Rams victory, the issue was quarterback Sam Darnold throwing four interceptions. Los Angeles only had 249 total yards in that game (partly because Darnold kept giving LA the ball in their own territory), and just 5.0 yards per play.
The Seattle Seahawks have proven they can shut down nearly any other team, but Sean McVay's team won't be so easy. If Macdonald's scheme can limit McVay's, Seattle will be headed to the Super Bowl.