Sean McVay, throughout his five years coaching in the NFL, has developed a reputation of building halftime leads and keeping them. What McVay had never accomplished was erasing a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter, until Sunday’s NFC Championship game victory over the San Francisco 49ers.
McVay was 0-14 when trailing by double digits in the fourth quarter, a streak Matthew Stafford helped break as the Rams head coach advanced to his second Super Bowl. Stafford went 11 of 14 for 121 yards with a touchdown in the fourth quarter to lead Los Angeles to a 20-17 victory — exactly the moment that highlighted why the Rams traded for Stafford in the first place.
“We went out and got him because we thought it was a chance to be able to get a great player of his magnitude. Those things don’t come around often. What he’s done, he’s elevated everybody around him,” McVay said. “He’s made me a better coach. He’s made his teammates better. He’s such a great person.
“I think you guys know from getting a chance to interact with him. If you don’t root for this guy, something’s wrong with you. He’s a great competitor. We’ve seen that, really, throughout the season. But I think it’s really been on display these last couple weeks. We talk about competitive greatness all the time. Being your best when your best was required. He embodied competitive greatness today. Love Matthew Stafford.”
While McVay won his first game trailing my double digits in the fourth quarter, Stafford snapped a dubious streak of his own too. Stafford had lost 26 straight starts (including playoffs) when trailing by double digits entering the fourth quarter, which was snapped Sunday. He has 36 fourth quarter comebacks, tied for the fourth-most in NFL history (since comebacks started being tracked in 1960).
“I don’t know that I ever thought about what I would be feeling at this moment,” Stafford said. “I probably just sat there and just wished I could be in those games. I’m so happy that I’ve got the opportunity to be in them. And I’m going to have an opportunity to be in another one that I’ve always wanted to play in. I don’t know. I’m excited for these guys and looking forward for the opportunity.”
