Former Rams coach Dick Vermeil can relate to Sean McVay's situation

Sean McVay is undecided on whether he’ll continue coaching the Rams. He’s considering some time away from the sport, feeling the strain and toll the job has taken on him in recent years.

McVay said recently that he doesn’t feel he’s close to being done coaching, but he’s unsure about his immediate future on the sidelines. He’s not the first coach to experience burnout and he won’t be the last.

Former Rams coach Dick Vermeil can relate to McVay’s situation, seeing as he also left coaching for a while in the 1980s and ’90s.

After seven years as the Eagles’ head coach from 1976-1982, Vermeil took a break and began a career in broadcasting, working for CBS and ABC. In 1997, he returned to the sidelines with the Rams, leading them for three years and winning Super Bowl XXXIV.

He got to a point where, despite all the success he had, the winning didn’t feel as good as the losses hurt.

“The loss hurt far more emotionally than the win affected you positively,” Vermeil told Sam Farmer of the LA Times. “I found myself thinking about what I should have done last week to win when I should have been thinking about what I had to do to win next week.”

Vermeil was a head coach for 15 years, but they weren’t all consecutive. He took a 15-year break from 1983-1997, and then took another year off in 2000 after leading the Rams to a ring. He finished his career by spending five years in Kansas City before retiring after the 2005 season.

Not every coach is cut out to be a “lifer,” as they’re often called, spending their entire careers in the NFL. McVay doesn’t seem to be one of those, and in Vermeil’s opinion, that could prevent him from making the Hall of Fame one day, despite being one of the most talented in the game.

“There’s only a few Bill Belichicks or Andy Reids out there,” Vermeil said. “There’s only a few Don Shulas or Bud Grants around. I think coach McVay has proven he’s in that talent level. He’s a potential Hall of Fame coach. But if he doesn’t have that personality make-up, no fault of his own, then that may not happen.”

If McVay does leave the Rams this year, it’s hard to believe it’ll be a permanent retirement. He’s a coach who could spend some time in the booth before eventually returning to the sidelines.

But right now, the Rams hope he puts off a hiatus and sticks with them for at least one more year.