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With 1:13 remaining in the first half of the NFC Championship Game, Rams coach Sean McVay called a pass, which fell incomplete, stopping the clock. The next play was another incomplete pass. That forced the Rams to punt with 1:03 left, giving the Seahawks plenty of time and timeouts to march down the field for a touchdown before halftime.
McVay still regrets that.
McVay called his clock management at that point in the game a "major mistake" in his appearance on PFT Live this week. When he looks back on the 2025 season, he doesn't worry about things he couldn't control, but it does still irk him that he could have called better plays in that situation than he called.
"I try not to dwell on stuff that really doesn't move me forward," McVay said. "Now, what I do dwell on is that NFC Championship Game. One thing you don't do in a two-minute situation, don't put the defense back out on the field. We run it on a first-and-10, and then you know what? Should have run it again. They got three timeouts, we end up throwing it, it goes incomplete, then we go incomplete on third down, give them three downs, they go score a touchdown. Changes the momentum of that going into the half. So, what I do evaluate are some of those after-action reviews on situationally."
McVay said there were other decisions he made that drew criticism, like a failed fourth down in the fourth quarter, that he stands by. But he could have handled clock management better.
"What I would do differently is handle the end of the first half differently," McVay said. "Handle some things differently game management-wise."
