After a punt return for a touchdown played a pivotal role in the Rams’ 38-37 overtime loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday night, head coach Sean McVay fired special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn on Saturday, two sources confirmed.
It marks the first time in McVay’s nine-year tenure with the Rams that he has dismissed a coach in the middle of the season. Blackburn was in his third season with the Rams. An interim had yet to be determined, per one source, but the Rams still have Ben Kotwica on staff as a special teams assistant.
Thursday marked the third time in four losses that special teams played a critical role in the Rams’ defeat. With the Rams leading by 16 in the fourth quarter, Rashid Shaheed returned a punt 58 yards for a touchdown. That was the play that sparked Seattle’s comeback to force overtime and eventually wrest control of the NFC West away from the Rams.
“I saw a flat, low kick that was not at all intended for what we wanted,” McVay said of that play Friday. “You give a guy like that an opportunity, that’s where the momentum flipped.”
That miscue helped lead to Blackburn’s dismissal, as the Rams decided they could not keep losing games because of special teams.
In the Rams’ Week 3 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, two blocked field goals – including on a game-winning attempt – led to the Rams’ demise. The Rams also missed a third-quarter field goal in a Week 5 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in a game that went to overtime.
After missed kicks continued to be an issue in the next three games, the Rams made changes to their operation, bringing in kicker Harrison Mevis and long snapper Jake McQuaide to replace Josh Karty and Alex Ward, respectively.
Those changes led to 39 consecutive made field goals and extra points before Mevis missed his first kick of the season, a potential game-winning field goal, in the fourth quarter against Seattle.