The Rams never blow halftime leads, but how often do they come from behind to win?

[theramswire.usatoday.com] The Rams never blow halftime leads, but how often do they come from behind to win?

Cameron DaSilva
December 1, 2021 12:10 pm PT
Back in Week 8 against the Texans, Sean McVay set the NFL record for the most consecutive victories when leading at halftime with 43 straight. It broke the mark previously set by Bill Belichick, making it quite the feat for the young head coach.

However, the Rams haven’t held a single halftime lead since then, losing each of their last three games. They trailed 21-3 at the half against the Titans, 21-7 against the 49ers and 20-17 against the Packers, but they were unable to come from behind to win any of those contests.


It’s gotten some people thinking about what McVay’s record looks like when his team is trailing at the half. It’s not great, as you’d probably expect, but it’s also nowhere near the worst in the NFL.

According to Stathead, the Rams are 7-22 when trailing by at least one point at halftime in regular-season and postseason games since 2017, a win percentage of 0.241. That ranks 11th in the NFL, considerably better than most people probably think.

The Steelers are a league-best 13-18 when trailing at halftime, followed by the Packers (13-20), Saints (11-18), Chiefs (9-15) and Seahawks (13-25).

This season alone, the Rams have trailed by at least 10 points at halftime three times, which is one fewer than last year’s total. They didn’t win any of those games, showing an inability to overcome big deficits in the second half.

In fact, the Rams have never overcome a deficit of nine points or more at halftime, going 0-15 in such scenarios. They’re one of just six teams that hasn’t come back from a deficit of at least nine points at halftime since 2017, with their 15 losses being the fourth-most of those teams.

It makes you wonder why they’ve struggled so badly to come from behind when trailing after the first 30 minutes. In games where they trail by 1-8 points at halftime, they’re a respectable 7-7, the third-best record in the league since 2017. But McVay has been abysmal at coming from behind when his team trails by a wide margin.

It mostly comes down to adjusting and getting off-script. McVay is the type of coach who abandons the run too quickly when his team falls behind, and you can be sure opposing teams know that. That allows them to guard against the pass when the Rams are trailing, letting their edge rushers hunt the quarterback without much threat of a running game to counter.

Defensively, the Rams weren’t bad in the second half of their games against the Titans, 49ers and Packers. The Titans scored seven points, the 49ers scored 10 and the Packers scored 16, though that included Matthew Stafford’s pick-six.

The problem is, the Rams offense didn’t adjust enough to close the gap. They scored 13 second-half points against Tennessee, three against the 49ers and 11 against the Packers, with only three total points being scored in the third quarter of those three games. That’s simply not good enough when you’re already trailing at the half, and it’s a sign that McVay isn’t making the necessary adjustments when things aren’t going according to plan.

The Rams shouldn’t trail at halftime against the Jaguars this week – or at any point in that game, really – but in the final five games of the season, they’ll have their work cut out for them against the Cardinals, Seahawks, Vikings, Ravens and 49ers.

At some point, McVay has to prove he and the Rams can overcome big deficits at halftime.