The Los Angeles Rams suffered a 20-point defeat in Week 1 against the San Francisco 49ers. With the embarrassment, there is plenty of blame to go around the locker room.
Head coach Sean McVay, though, is looking at one person — himself. He made that very clear to reporters after the 27-7 loss to open the 2026 campaign.
“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,” McVay told the media.
“I make no excuses and, whether you want to say it’s about travel, whatever, we just weren’t good enough in that window,” McVay added. “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.
McVay then emphasized again after the first question he received that the buck stops with him.
“There were a lot of things that didn’t go well. I think the first thing I look at 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. This story is far from written.
“I know that there are going to be a lot of narratives that appropriately, you know, put the blame on me, and then we’ll move forward the right way.”
Did Sean McVay Make Australia Travel Plans Mistake?
Bigger than any play-call or fourth-down decision from Week 1, McVay is likely to receive a lot of criticism this weekend about the Rams travel plans to Australia.
The team flew across the globe as close to kickoff time as possible. The Athletic reported the Rams sports science and research teams concluded through studies that that strategy would work best.
Simply put, it didn’t. The Rams didn’t look anything like the Super Bowl favorites everybody called them over the summer. Particularly in the second half, they appeared tired and flat.
McVay appeared to understand that the team’s Australia itinerary will be a talking point. But he put more blame on himself than the team’s travel schedule.
“I don’t believe that’s why we didn’t play well enough. I really don’t,” McVay said. “Listen, I’m more than comfortable, that’s something that I always will make decisions that I think are best for the football team.
“It’s easy in hindsight to say that it was a miss, but those are responsibilities that I’ll take and then you try to be able to look at it [to improve].”
The obvious flaw in McVay’s last point is the criticism really isn’t coming in hindsight. Quite a few pundits argued the Rams’ travel arrangements were a bad idea. The Rams did nothing to dispel that pregame take.
Regardless, McVay didn’t use the location of the game as an excuse, which is a good thing.
Rams Have 11 Days to Regroup for Week 2
There’s one positive about the Rams travel plans to Australia. The team was set to fly back almost immediately after the game.
The Rams didn’t have anything to celebrate in Melbourne. So why not head back to Los Angeles and regroup as soon as possible?
McVay and his team have 11 days until their next game. That should be plenty of time to get rest even with the strenuous travel of a 15-hour flight.
The Rams will play next on Monday, September 21 versus the New York Giants. Kickoff is set for 5:15 pm PT at SoFi Stadium.
Sean McVay Makes Clear Who’s to Blame in Rams Embarrassing Loss to 49ers