Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay didn’t hesitate to admit what he believes to be his mistake after the disappointing 23-26 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

“Bad call by me,” McVay said in the post-game press conference. “We stayed in it, we fought, we battled. … I’m pretty sick right now. I’m sick of the spot I put our group in to end the game. These are the tough beats that you’ve got to learn from and move forward, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

In overtime, the Rams were down by three points and faced a crucial fourth-and-1 in the red zone. Instead of tying the game with a field goal, Coach McVay chose to run the ball, handing it to running back Kyren Williams. Instead of tying the game, he decided to go for the win. And it didn’t work out.

What he didn’t realise was that the 49ers’ defense was strong enough to handle it. And like Jaguars coach Liam Coen warned about the 49ers linebacker Fred Warner, who stopped him at the line of scrimmage, leading the team to a win.

When asked if he would have done anything differently or considered kicking a field goal, McVay said “no,” but he admitted that he should have. “I’m sick right now because I put our players in a s—– spot. I’ve got to live with that.”

Both McVay and Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford shared their takes on the game. And Stafford held a different opinion about that call. He supported McVay’s decision to go for it, appreciating the aggressive approach to try and win rather than settle for a tie.

“That’s a bread-and-butter short-yardage rush for us so I didn’t have any problem with it,” McVay said. “That’s trusting our guys to go out there and make a play. They did a nice job of stopping it. Frustrating that we didn’t get it. Wish I would’ve done more and found a way to help us win.”

He even wished he “could have done more” than completing 30 out of 47 passes for 389 yards and 3 TDs. Fortunately for the Rams, it seems like that’s also what each of his teammates feels about how they performed.

Matthew Stafford talks about the locker room’s reaction to the loss

The Rams now have about a week and a half to digest their second tough loss of the 2025-26 season. They had the Week 3 game against the Philadelphia Eagles in the bag until everything went south.

And the current defeat stings even more. Looking back at the game, Stafford said, “We had a chance to win it multiple, multiple times.” “Those sting and piss you off… that one is frustrating, the Philly one is frustrating,” he added.

Stafford noted that the team just needs to cut down on turnovers in key moments.”The locker room was clearly frustrated after dropping a tight game against a division rival they had a chance to win, but Stafford isn’t concerned about their reaction. He even appreciated that everyone was fired up and upset.

“Guys are pissed off because they care,” Stafford said. “If everyone was laughing and joking, I’d be more concerned.“

Both losses served as a wake-up call for the team, and they will look to fix these mistakes moving to Week 6.