Coach of the Year is a subjective award. There aren’t statistics you can attach to candidates the way you can Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year. It often doesn’t even go to the coach with the best team, but rather the coach who did the most with the least.
It’s why Brian Daboll won it last year after he helped turn the Giants around, as did Kevin Stefanski in 2020 when the Browns went from 6-10 to 11-5. Sean McVay won Coach of the Year in his first season with the Rams, too, leading them to an 11-5 record and playoff berth following 12 straight years of .500 or worse records for the Rams.
If the award is given to the candidate who did the best job with what he had available to him, McVay should at least be a finalist this year. Sadly, he isn’t – and that’s flat-out ridiculous.
The Associated Press announced its five finalists for Coach of the Year on Thursday: Dan Campbell, John Harbaugh, DeMeco Ryans, Kyle Shanahan and Kevin Stefanski.
All very good coaches who led their teams to the playoffs, but McVay should at least be in the conversation. Not only did the Rams have the second-youngest roster in the NFL, equipped with a whopping 15 rookies on their initial 53-man squad, but they far exceeded all of the low expectations set by the public before the season began.
Let’s just take a look at the pre-season over/under win totals from oddsmakers for each of the Coach of the Year finalists, compared to their final records. As you can see, one of these things is not like the others.
- Browns: 8.5 (11-6)
- Ravens: 9.5 (13-4)
- Texans: 5.5 (10-7)
- Lions: 9.5 (12-5)
- 49ers: 11.5 (12-5)
- Rams: 7.5 (10-7)
Shanahan is a great coach, but he should not win Coach of the Year. The 49ers had nine Pro Bowlers. Nine! Yet they only exceeded their pre-season win total by one game. The Rams had four Pro Bowlers, and that’s with two of them being rookies drafted in the third and fifth rounds (Kobie Turner and Puka Nacua).
The Rams’ pre-season win total was only 7.5 games, yet they went 10-7 and made the playoffs with the second-youngest roster in the NFL. Only the Packers were younger, and they also made the playoffs with a 9-8 record and a first-year starter at quarterback. Why is Matt LaFleur not in the conversation?
Again, Coach of the Year is subjective and this isn’t to say McVay should absolutely win it over the other contenders. But Shanahan – and even Harbaugh – getting more votes than McVay despite having loaded rosters is shocking.
McVay took a team that was projected to go 5-12 by some and led them to the playoffs despite losing his starting running back for four games, his quarterback for a game and a half, an All-Pro wide receiver for four games and having a defense that featured names many fans have never heard of with the exception of Aaron Donald.
McVay was awesome in 2021 when the Rams won it all, but this year might’ve been his best coaching job yet.