Analysts defend Sean McVay's controversial decision in Rams' OT loss 

"I'm with Bart on this. You put the ball in Stafford's hands and McVay knows," agreed Schrager. 

Douglas added that Stafford was "driving up the defense and making the right reads" all night and deserved a chance to put the outcome on his shoulders. "Put it in his (Stafford) hands, allow him to get it," he said.

Sean McVay's gamble didn't pay off

With 3:40 left in the second overtime and the game, McVay rejected an opportunity to kick a field goal and tie the score. Instead, he decided to go for it on fourth down with only one yard needed to advance the drive. Unfortunately for McVay and the Rams, his gamble didn't pay off. Running back Kyren Williams, whose costly fumble at the goal line during regulation took an inevitable touchdown off the board, was stopped shy of that one yard, thus ending the game. The injury-plagued 49ers improved to 4-1 on the season, while the Rams dropped to 3-2.

"It's a bad call. It's a bad call by me," admitted an honest McVay during his postgame press conference. But as he would clarify in a subsequent question, McVay was talking about the play call, not the decision to go for it in general. 

No matter what anyone says after the fact, the reality is McVay, a well-respected Super Bowl champion head coach, didn't put the ball in Stafford's hands. He instead told him to hand the ball off to his running back, and the Rams are now 3-2 with a loss to a division rival.

Perhaps this can serve as a valuable learning experience. The Rams may appreciate an aggressive attitude to go for a win over an easy tie. The problem is that a gutsy display of confidence in your team doesn't matter when the play call still leads them to a gut-wrenching loss.