Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay knew this year's squad had the potential to do big things.
But did he know they could be this special?
The Rams are fresh off one of the most dominant wins of the Wild Card round, knocking off a 14-3 Minnesota Vikings team in a dominant 27-9 victory on a neutral field. And McVay and his young squad have proven they are a true force to mess with in the NFC as a result.
According to ESPN's Adam Schefter during an apperance on the Pat McAfee show, the Rams were at a true crossroads after their 1-4 start. Instead, they opted to push forward and perservere, leading to Monday's big win.
"Well, you know, Pat, I don't know if they saw it coming. I think that they thought that they had the potential to be good, but they didn't know which way it was going to go. And you mentioned that leading up to the trade deadline, they were waiting to see which way this team would go," Schefter said.
"And I think it was the Thursday night game against Minnesota that they won that pushed them more towards going for it this year, whereas if they had lost that game, it's possible they then would have approached the trade deadline differently, listened to offers on certain veterans, a la a Cooper Kupp. They never got to, never got to that point. But did it come up? Hey, if we're knocked out here, is this something that we should do? That's a conversation to that extent that came up. But they won, and they moved forward, and the young defense got better and better and better, and Cooper Kupp came back, and Puka Nacua came back. And when you watch Puka, when he comes back, I mean that just feels like it's everything, because that guy is dynamic and changes the way the offense is run. It feels like the offense runs through him and Kyren Williams, and they've just gotten better and better and better.
The Rams had to battle through plenty of adversity to get to this point, including the California wildfires impacting them on and off the field.
But the Rams and McVay kept pushing. And now, they are two more wins from appearing in the Super Bowl.
"To the point where last night, you know, in talking to that team this weekend, they said last week might have been the single best week of practices that they've had all year long. And they had that with all the adversity going on with them moving to Arizona, with their city being on fire, I think there was so much that they were going through, but I think going to Arizona focused this team in exactly," Schefter said.
"And Sean McVay kept telling this team, we're built for this. We're built for this. And exactly what he told the team in the post-game speech last night, after they sacked Sam Darnold nine times and trounced the Vikings and moved on to play the Eagles on Sunday in Philadelphia
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/rams/ as BREAKING: Insider Details Rams' Amazing Path to Wild Card Victory.