Sean McVay knew questions about the Rams' travel schedule were coming following his team's ugly 27-7 season-opening loss to the 49ers in the first-ever game played in Australia.
McVay started his postgame press conference by stating that there were going to be "narratives" stemming from the loss and that others would "appropriately, put the blame on me." He accepts responsibility for the loss, but he doesn't (at least publicly) regret his decision to arrive in Australia less than 30 hours prior to kickoff.
"I don't believe that's why we didn't play well enough," he said. "I really don't. I'm more than comfortable with that. I'll always make decisions that I think are best for the football team. It's easy in hindsight to be able to say it was it was a miss. But those are responsibilities that I'll take and then you try to be able to look at it. I'll always look at myself inside out and figure out where I can improve."
A popular offseason pick to win the Super Bowl, the Rams looked anything like a championship team on Thursday night, while the 49ers did. Los Angeles was outgained by nearly 100 yards, were just 2 of 9 on third down, allowed the 49ers to convert on more than half of their third downs, and had no answers for the 49ers' star players. Brock Purdy threw three touchdown passes that included scores to Mike Evans and Deebo Samuel. Christian McCaffrey had 88 total yards, and Fred Warner recorded 11 tackles and a forced fumble.
The Rams' star players, however, largely failed to show up. Matthew Stafford had his worst game in recent memory. He finished the game with just 155 yards with no touchdowns and an interception. Davante Adams didn't have a catch until midway through the third quarter and finished with just three receptions on six targets. Myles Garrett didn't register a sack or a tackle.
McVay shared several other reasons for the loss outside of the team's travel schedule. He pointed out his team's inability to capitalize on some of its momentum early in the game. He said that the Rams did not communicate very well "on either side of the ball." Lastly, McVay acknowledged that the 49ers "outplayed us in every phase."
"They deserve the win," McVay said. "I think that's really what it boils down to. And sometimes sports can have days like that. And like I said, this will only define us if we allow it to. And I'm looking forward to leaning in, going back to work. And today was humbling, but sometimes life can do that to you. We've got a lot of football left, and we're not going to allow this one game to do anything other than help us learn and grow."
McVay said that he felt that his team was ready to play in response to a question about how the Rams slept on the eve of the game after arriving in Australia just hours earlier. Conversely, the 49ers arrived in Australia days in advance.
"I thought we were ready to go, and obviously we just didn't play good enough," he said. "You know, you give the Niners credit; they were sharp in all three phases. They did a really good job, and we were never able to really get any continuity going offensively. When we were able to get some drives going, we weren't able to finish it with points, but again, you know, I look at nobody but myself, and I have to do a much better job. And then defensively, we had some chances and couldn't necessarily get off the grass, and we struggled in the kicking game as well."
As flat as the Rams were, they were in position to make it a one-score game late in the third quarter. But after Stafford was stuffed on fourth-and-goal on the 1-yard-line, the 49ers drove 99 yards on 11 plays and took a 24-7 lead after Purdy hit Samuel on a 15-yard touchdown pass.
At that point, the Rams abandoned their running game (which had been one of their few bright spots), became one dimensional and therefore predictable. The Rams turned the ball over on their ensuring possession, the 49ers tacked on a field goal, and McVay waved the white flag when he pulled Stafford from the game with 3:05 left.
"We got outplayed," McVay said. "They did a good job. We didn't, and you know, there's a lot of football left to be played. And I love that locker room. I love our coaching staff. And today will be an opportunity for us to learn it, and we're going to find out what we're about. And I'm excited to be able to lean in, and certainly I make no excuses. And you know, it starts with me, and I got to do a better job for our group."
McVay then apologized to the large contingent of Rams fans who helped make up what was the seventh largest crowd for a regular-season game in NFL history. He finished his press conference, however, by reiterating that his decision to arrive in Australia so close to kickoff was based solely on football and what he thought was best for his team.
"We thought that was the best plan of attack in terms of our approach," he said. "We didn't have the result that we wanted today, but you know, you could certainly say it was great to be able to get the feel for the culture here. That didn't have anything to do with us not wanting to embrace that. It was just what we thought was best, and unfortunately, we didn't have the result that we wanted and didn't play the way that we were capable of."
