Rams’ Sean McVay calls embarrassing loss to 49ers ‘a humbling night,’ Matthew Stafford repentant over two INTs

For all of the romance that surrounds the abilities of head coach Sean McVay, he does have a Lex Luthor to his supposed Superman ways in the NFC West, and that person is Kyle Shanahan. With the San Francisco 49ers humiliation of the Los Angeles Rams on a primetime stage in Week 10, Shanahan has now bested McVay five times in a row, and it didn’t help the Rams case seeing Matthew Stafford open the game with not one, but two interceptions — both to safety Jimmie Ward. 

The 49ers turned those mistakes into a 14-0 lead that eventually mushroomed into a 31-10 shellacking at Levi’s Stadium and, suddenly, the high-flying Rams are losers of two straight heading into their bye week. The blame also lands in the lap of McVay who, for some odd reason, opted to forego a field goal attempt on fourth-and-8 from the 49ers 17-yard line with only 18 seconds remaining in the first half, one that would’ve likely made it a 14-10 game at halftime with the Rams having stolen back some momentum.

Instead, also opting to not run an offensive play knowing they had to gain at least eight yards, McVay pulled the trigger on a fake field goal that gained only two yards and completely pushed momentum in favor of the Niners, who never again gave McVay and Stafford a chance at taking it back.

“This was a humbling night for us as a team,” McVay told media after the game, via the team’s website. “And a great opportunity for us to take a deep breath, step away, look at the things we need to correct — particularly offensively over the past couple of weeks — it wasn’t good enough. But we’ll look inwardly, we’re going to figure this thing out, and we’re going to come back freakin’ swinging, I promise you that. These last seven games of the regular season.”

For his part, Stafford has seen better days. 

Yes, he threw two interceptions and that’s very not great, but what’s worse is he could’ve had upwards of five interceptions on the night, if the 49ers didn’t drop two or three other passes from Stafford. He also sailed a few in key situations and continued looking like a shell of himself, something that began in Week 9 when he literally helped throw away the game in the Rams loss to the Tennessee Titans, when Stafford had two INTs in that game as well (and brutal ones, considering not all INTs are created equal).

“When you have two turnovers to start the game offensively, we’re not playing complementary football,” McVay added. “That’s something that we’ve gotta look at. We have to play better as a team.”

Stafford owned up to his part in the loss, though.

“I probably should’ve just run that ball [preceding the first interception] out to the right,” Stafford said. “I don’t know if I get anything or just throw it away, just too aggressive throwing it down the field. The second [INT], I shouldn’t have done it. … Uncharacteristic and something that’s the hazard of playing the position. Sometimes, those things happen. I obviously wished they wouldn’t.”

Having completed only 26 of his 41 attempts and finishing with a passer rating of just 67.4, one week after completing only 31 of 48 pass attempts for a rating of 71.0, Stafford now has four (and, again, could have had several more) interceptions in his last two games and is now staring down the barrel of one of the most brutally tough stretches to close out the regular season. 

“I can definitely do a better job of giving [our playmakers] the ball in the better spot so they don’t have to work as hard to make those catches,” said Stafford. “I’ll make sure I’m doing my part to try and be better.”