National Football League

Why Sean McVay's style could wear on Rams in the long run

Updated Jan. 18, 2023 11:05 a.m. ET

In five seasons as the head coach of the Los Angeles Rams, Sean McVay's squad has never finished worse than 9-7.

He's won 68% of his regular-season games (55-26), reached the playoffs four times and advanced to the Super Bowl twice. And now, after the big win over Cincinnati in Sunday's Super Bowl, he's a champion.

And for many, that would put McVay among the best in the league at his job.

In fact, Colin Cowherd said as much when he ranked McVay among the NFL's top eight coaches on "The Herd" on Thursday. "He's a made man," Cowherd said.

But not everyone thinks that way. Some think McVay's "rah-rah" style, as well as his seeming eagerness to draw attention to himself, could wear on players in the long term.

Skip Bayless is one of them, and he explained why on his podcast, "The Skip Bayless Show."

Skip Bayless: "Sean McVay's egomania annoys his players."

Skip Bayless breaks down why Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay is obsessed with being the face of the franchise, which likely annoys his players in the process.

"Sean McVay flat out annoys me," he said. "… I believe he just annoys the hell out of his Rams players that he coaches. They are the Hollywood stars. They play the game. Sean just coaches the game. Yet it's clear to me that Sean wants to be the face of the franchise and the center of attention at every single moment.

"I'm just not sure that plays that great in the locker room."

Bayless acknowledged that winning can change things and that McVay owning a Super Bowl ring hurts his argument.

But he also said: "I'm going to remind you the day Tom Brady visited earlier this season to 'SoFine' Stadium. What happened? 75-yard touchdown pass happened to a receiver who's no longer with the Rams, DeSean Jackson. … Seventy-five yards, and Sean 'McYay,' as I call him, did something I've never ever in all my years covering the National Football League or college football … I've never seen a coach do this. He sprints the length of the sideline and up the tunnel to congratulate a receiver who was soon to be cut by the Rams. Really?

"Coach ‘McYay,’ that's a high school move! That's definitely a look-at-me move."

Bayless said that it doesn't have anything to do with McVay's ability as a coach with Xs and Os.

"We could argue all day about his gameplay in Sunday's Super Bowl. Did he run too much? They went 23 times and managed 43 total yards. How they won that game doing that, I don't know. … Maybe he hung on too long to the run game. Maybe Matthew Stafford took him off the hook with that last-ditch drive."

Bayless said it was more a matter of a coach seeking attention at the expense of his players, and how that might wear thin over time.

"All I know is once they won the game, barely, Coach ‘McYay’ was all over the field photo bombing interviews being done by his stars, his Hollywood stars. I look up, it's Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp being interviewed. … And photobombing is Coach ‘McYay.’ His head pops in between them.

"I look up a few minutes later and it's Aaron Donald. A potential Super Bowl MVP, and it's Von Miller, who was also actually a potential MVP candidate in the Super Bowl. And photobombing, in between them, was Coach ‘McYay.’ Hey everybody want to ask me a question?

"He just can't help himself. … I've got nothing personal against him, I've just been doing this for too long. Trust me. That kind of egomania in your young head coach, over time, will not play well in your Los Angeles Rams' locker room."