Very little chatter filled the Rams’ locker room after [their 26-23 overtime loss to the San Francisco 49ers](https://www.ocregister.com/2025/10/02/rams-overtime-gamble-falls-short-in-loss-to-49ers/). Players sat in front of their stalls Thursday night, eyes fixed on nothing in particular as they processed all the mistakes that had piled up and put themselves in this situation.
By Friday morning, those feelings had not abated for head coach Sean McVay.
“I mean, you want to talk about two gut punches in terms of how we’ve lost the two games that we have,” the coach said. “I can’t remember feeling much more disgusted waking up after a tough loss than I have after the two that we’ve had.”
The two losses in the Rams’ 3-2 start to the season have been a case of yin and yang. Against the Eagles, they jumped out to a 19-point lead only to allow 26 unanswered points. The 49ers instead took a two-touchdown lead before the Rams had possessed the ball twice, and the Rams never fully recovered.
But both games featured mistakes in all three phases – offense, defense and special teams – that simply can’t be made against NFL competition.
In special teams alone, there were a handful of miscues. A holding call on a punt return at the end of regulation when the Rams needed a field goal to tie. A kickoff that hit the turf before it reached the landing zone. A missed field goal.
And a blocked point-after attempt, the fourth block allowed by the Rams.
“I wish it was just one thing,” McVay said of the field goal unit. “We’ve gotta fix it. And it’s not one thing in particular, there’s different locations and spots and people that have no executed the way that we’re capable of. … That has been a killer for us, and it’s cost us two games.”
On defense, the Rams tried a different approach. Without Ahkello Witherspoon, Rams cornerbacks had been victimized by bigger, more physical receivers. So the Rams played less press coverage against the Niners, hoping to avoid being physically outmatched at the line of scrimmage.
But San Francisco settled for underneath routes all game, not allowing the Rams’ pass rush to win up front.
“They were dinking and dunking it all the way down the field,” defensive tackle Kobie Turner said. “But when we get them in third-and-long, we gotta execute.”
McVay acknowledged the possibility the Rams will look into adding to their cornerback room, but expressed support for the guys already on the roster. Just as he expressed support for running back Kyren Williams after his fumble on the goal line prevented the Rams from winning in regulation.
“If you don’t have both hands on the ball in traffic, you’re going to leave yourself susceptible for it to come out,” McVay said. “He’ll be the first to take accountability, which is why you want to put your arm around him and be right there with him.”
So that’s offense, defense and special teams, but the Rams’ coaching was no less to blame, as McVay was quick to point out. He lamented his decision to take the ball out of quarterback Matthew Stafford’s hands on the final play of the game, when the Niners stopped Williams on fourth-and-one.
But players looked inward, too.
“If you don’t come out prepared and ready to execute, then you’re going to get beat and that’s what happened today,” Turner said. “You start to realize how precious every single opportunity, every critical down, every third down, every second-and-long, every even first down to be able to get it to third down. Every single thing is critical.”
McVay felt like his team prepared the right way going into the week. And he loved the resolve the team showed in even getting to overtime, given all the opportunities they had created for themselves to lie down throughout the game.
But that’s also what made the feeling so much worse when McVay woke up this morning, trying to find a course to navigate his team through these choppy waters.
“I feel a tremendous responsibility to do a good job of trying to put our players in positions to have successful outcomes. And when I don’t think I’ve done that or I think I can do better or we can do better, it chafes me to no end,” McVay said. “But I promise you this, I’m going to work my ass off to make sure that I continue to be better for this group. And that’s the expectations that I know everybody in our building will have. And this is going to galvanize us, I promise you that.”