The week around the Rams has gotten louder than usual, starting with wideout Puka Nacua getting hit with a $25,000 fine after he went after NFL officials in comments made leading into Thursday night.
Nacua still delivered a monster game in Seattle with 12 catches for 225 yards and two touchdowns, but Los Angeles let a 30-14 fourth-quarter lead slip away in a 38-37 overtime loss, and the frustration around that finish spilled into the postgame noise.
That same loss also became the tipping point for a move Sean McVay has essentially never made during his tenure. Adam Schefter reported the Rams fired special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn, with special teams playing a role in three of the team’s four losses this season, including the defeat in Seattle.
Schefter added another key detail: it’s the first in-season coaching change McVay has made as Rams head coach.
For a staff that’s been unusually stable under McVay, that’s what makes this decision stand out.
The Rams are 11-4 and still tracking toward a playoff berth, but the type of mistakes that show up on special teams tend to feel like self-inflicted wounds, and those start to matter even more once you’re in one-score games against good opponents. Thursday night fit that description, and the response was immediate.
The timing also overlaps with another practical problem for the offense. Davante Adams remains unlikely to play in Week 17 against the Falcons due to his hamstring, per ESPN’s Sarah Barshop, with McVay saying he doesn’t anticipate Adams being available even though Adams will push to try.
For Los Angeles, that means at least one more week of adjusting red-zone plans without the league’s touchdown leader at receiver.
Now the Rams turn the page with a new voice on special teams and a short runway to clean things up. At 11-4, the margin is still there, but the message inside is that the details are going to be decided in January.
