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May 28, 2024; Thousand Oaks, CA, USA; Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula talks with players during OTAs at the team training facility at California Lutheran University. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

How 1 Meeting Changed Trajectory of Rams’ Defense Last Year

Originally posted on Los Angeles Rams on SI
By Zak Gilbert | Last updated Aug 2, 2025 7:00 AM ET

Green Bay exited the SoFi Stadium locker room and stunned the Rams. Down 13-10 at halftime, the Packers hit two Jordan Love-to-Tucker Kraft touchdowns, including an ugly 66-yard strike complete with a stiff arm to the face of Darious Williams.

That play helped to change the trajectory of the Rams, suddenly 1-4 entering their bye week. It spawned a look-in-the-mirror meeting between Sean McVay and his first-year defensive coordinator.

“It was like, ‘Just be yourself,’” Shula remembered last week. “What'd you do at John Carroll?’ -- when I was defensive coordinator my first year at John Carroll (2014). ‘What exactly would you do?’

“That resonated with me. I know he’s got my back. He's always believed in me. That’s a big feeling when you feel safety like that as a coach, when you're not out walking on eggshells if you make a call or do this defense or you make a mistake. It allows you to be a lot freer, and we want our players to play like that, too.”

They did. Los Angeles came out of its Week 6 bye and won nine of its next 11 games to clinch the NFC West and a first-round home playoff game. McVay was impressed, but he wasn’t surprised.

Mentally tough

“One of my favorite things about Chris is that he is mentally tough,” McVay said, noting Shula also grew up in a football family and knows to keep an even-keel approach. “I think he understood that his players, his coaches -- he knew that I did -- had his back.

“What I like is he was solution-oriented. It was a humbling start for us. But you can either do one of two things. You can either feel bad for yourself or you can say, ‘I'm going to swing. I'm going to fight and I'm going to figure out what's the next-best thing to try to do right by these players and by these coaches.’”

Verse, Fiske turned corner with Shula

Two of those players were rookies Jared Verse and Braden Fiske. After that McVay-Shula meeting, Verse ramped up his campaign for Defensive Rookie of the Year with relentless quarterback pressure. His former Florida State teammate benefited most.

Fiske had two sacks in a Week 8 overtime win at Seattle, and two more in a 28-22 victory at New England. He wound up leading the Rams as a rookie with 8½ sacks, seven of which came after the bye, not including his 1½ in the postseason. McVay looked back and saw growth from everyone, especially Shula.

“That's exactly what he's built on,” McVay said. “That's what he's all about. I think the number of experiences that he got in his first year as the defensive coordinator was invaluable because it wasn't easy. Because there were some things that you worked through, and that's when you find out about people and that's why you know him.

“A lot of people that we have on this team are made of the right things. That's what we're looking for and that's what we want to be about because adversity is going to be inevitable and our ability to handle it the right way will hopefully be a separator for us.”

Breaking news from Loyola Marymount and Rams camp is best served with OnSI. Follow @RamsInsideronSI and @BrockVierra on X (Twitter) for the most updated information. Plus, don’t forget to share your thoughts on Chris Shula by visiting our Facebook page (here).

This article first appeared on Los Angeles Rams on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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