Sean McVay cannot rely on the Rams' special teams -- and the Rams must fix it before it's too late ... again

The Rams are 32nd in the NFL in special teams expected points added Oct 13, 2026 at 1:03 am ET • 3 min read Of all the wild moments in the Bills' 37-34 win over the Rams, the one that set up Buffalo's win -- and maybe the worst decision of the night -- was Sean McVay deciding to run the ball on a third-and-5 at the Bills' 30-yard line in overtime and settle for a 48-yard field goal attempt.The attempt got blocked, the Bills scored on their ensuing possession, and the game was over. The preseason Super Bowl favorites -- the dream team that has already had three nightmare losses -- are 2-3.Now ask yourself, would you rather trust the right arm of 2025 MVP Matthew Stafford, who ran red-hot all of the second half and overtime, to gain 5 yards or the right leg of Harrison Mevis to make a kick from 48 yards?Oh, and by the way ...Mevis entered that kick 3-for-7 in his career from 43+ yards away, compared to 100% from 42 or closer;Mevis had missed a 50-yarder earlier in the game;More than anything else, the Rams' special teams have proved untrustworthy again and again.This was a coaching failure on McVay's part. The Rams have Stafford, Puka Nacua and Davante Adams. Stafford was 24-for-31 for 284 yards and two touchdowns in the second half plus overtime. And you basically give up on offense to bring on your special teams unit? McVay is an excellent coach, but even excellent coaches make mistakes, and this one was truly gross. "I wish I would've had a better play call and gone for it, gotten it a lot tighter," McVay said. "I'm sick right now with myself. ... I'll be regretting kicking that and not having a better call to be able to go for it on third down and go to fourth or whatever it was, and that's on me."He's right, but those words carry little meaning now. All that matters is that he and the Rams learn a lesson they've been apprehensive to learn (to put it nicely) or damningly ignorant of (to put it harshly): Special teams can and will cost them their Super Bowl dreams ... again."It's got to get better,'' McVay added. "We're gonna be able to figure out how to be able to fix this, but it can't continue like this with regards to our kicking operation ... Ultimately, it's my responsibility." Last year, the Rams finished 31st in special teams expected points added. In a crucial Week 16 matchup against the Seahawks, they gave up a punt return touchdown, and Mevis missed a field goal. The Rams lost by one. In the NFC Championship game, also against the Seahawks, Xavier Smith muffed a punt, leading to a Seattle touchdown one play later. The Rams lost by four.This year's Rams are dead last in special teams EPA -- somehow worse than last year! In addition to the Mevis miss and the Mevis blocked kick, the Rams gave up a 70-yard return on the opening kickoff. But this runs far deeper than a one-night issue.The Rams are 5-for-9 on field goals this year, the worst rate in the NFL.The Rams are 29th in yards per kickoff return and 26th in yards per kickoff return allowed ... at a time in which kickoff returns matter more than ever.The Rams are 30th in net yards per punt and 26th in opponent net yards per punt.The Rams once again failed to address this issue during the offseason and are scrambling. Last year, they fired the special teams coordinator and replaced the kicker midseason. They might have undergone similar changes this year; in fact, they've already released Smith. More changes are surely coming. The cold, hard truth is that when it comes to the upper echelons of Super Bowl contention, you are only as strong as your weakest link. And the Rams' weakest link is one of the weakest links in the entire NFL. It will be exposed again and again until it changes; it should not matter whether it takes 100 kicker tryouts and 100 special-teamer tryouts, or a trade.The Rams can collect stars. They can have everything else in place. But continuing to treat special teams as an afterthought is like building a 1,000-piece LEGO set perfectly but forgetting the two pieces that hold it all together, and then it all comes crashing down as soon as you try to display it.It is said that those who don't learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. If McVay and GM Les Snead cannot learn from the nightmarish past -- and, now, the nightmarish present -- when it comes to special teams, the Rams' Super Bowl dreams will be crushed, and they will have only themselves to blame.