Horner: Sean McVay And Matthew Stafford Have A Chance To Change Their Legacies

Sean McVay Must Break Narrative He Can't Beat Kyle Shanahan, Give Up Leads

It has been long-known and well-documented that Rams head coach Sean McVay has had his problems when facing 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan. In fact, I would even go so far as to say that Shanahan has owned McVay's teams over the years. San Francisco has beaten Los Angeles six straight times, sweeping them for three seasons in a row in the NFC West. McVay is a very poor 3-7 against Shanahan both SU and ATS. What's even more frustrating for Rams backers is that his team was favored in eight of those last 10 matchups with Shanahan, and he has failed to get the job done a majority of the time.

This isn't to say McVay is a bad coach, quite the contrary. He's led his team to the Super Bowl before, and orchestrated one of the best offense in the NFL just a few years ago in 2018. He's also one of the youngest head coaches in NFL history, so he has plenty of time to grow his legacy. One of the early demons he must defeat remains Shanahan, and his inability to out-scheme him. Considering McVay is a very good 44-32 (58%) ATS against every other head coach in the league, it's clear that Shanahan and his team just has his number.

Not only does he struggle against the team up north, but he also has shown a real tendency to give up leads when his team is up by a massive amount. Mind you, he almost always wins those games in the end, having a stellar 45-1 record when leading after halftime. But that one loss is this season to, you guessed it, Shanahan and his 49ers. He also almost blew a lead to Tampa Bay just last week in which he was up 27-3, allowing Tom Brady and company to tie the game at 27 before ultimately sending the GOAT home.

Stafford Needs To Prove He Can Get The Job Done When It Matters

For a guy as respected around the NFL as Matthew Stafford is, there are a lot of questions surrounding his record against winning teams, and if he can ever be the guy to lead his organization to the promised land. He had little to no success in Detroit as a Lion, which to be fair, nobody has. However, it isn't like he was on teams that were devoid of talent in Detroit. He had guys like Calvin Johnson to partner up with, but even great offenses like those couldn't get them where they needed to be, and too often it was a mistake by Stafford that ended hopes.

He has always been great against bad teams, but it's against winning competition where Stafford has really struggled to make the difference. Against teams with a .500 record or better, Stafford is just 14-35 (29%) ATS in November or later, meaning he has failed to get the job done when he faces good teams when it matters most. Even in games where his team is favored to win, he has choked, with a 7-8 record SU as a favorite, and just 5-9-1 (36%) ATS in those games.

There's no denying that Stafford has been a very successful quarterback when it comes to statistics, but that doesn't always translate to winning football games. He and the Rams have done the job so far this postseason in getting to the NFC Championship Game, but it will be up to Stafford to lead his team to victory against an upstart and very good 49ers defense. History tells us that he won't be able to get over the hump, but it's just another chance for him to prove the narrative wrong, and lead his team onto the biggest stage in sports.

You can read my preview here and find out what I think will happen when the Rams clash with the 49ers!

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