A win away from history: This is the record Sean McVay could break against the Seahawks

Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay already boasts a remarkable coaching career at a young age, and this weekend when they face the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game, he has a chance to take it to a historically rare level.

A historic opportunity Sunday

McVay currently has 10 career playoff wins, a total he reached recently with the Rams’ Divisional-Round victory over the Chicago Bears that helped propel them deeper into the postseason. That figure joins him with celebrated names like Bill Walsh, George Seifert, Sean Payton and Bud Grant, all Hall of Fame-caliber coaches, for 16th on the NFL’s all-time playoff wins list.

That win also happened to tie him with Hall of Famer Don Shula for the most playoff wins by a head coach before turning 45 years old.

McVay’s situation is made more extraordinary by how quickly he’s accumulated those 10 victories. Entering this weekend’s NFC Championship Game, McVay is still in his 30s, a rarity among the league’s most successful postseason coaches. He now sits just one win away from standing alone. A victory would give McVay 11 playoff wins before age 45, breaking the record he currently shares with Shula, a coach widely considered one of the greatest to ever do it.

Shula’s postseason success came over decades on the sidelines, spanning stops in Baltimore and Miami and culminating in two Super Bowl titles. McVay, by contrast, has reached the same playoff win total in less than a decade as an NFL head coach.

Currently, the all-time postseason wins leaders are veteran head coaches, with icons like Bill Belichick (31 postseason wins) and Andy Reid (28) far out front. But McVay has achieved his mark in a fraction of the time. Hired by the Rams at just 30 years old, McVay immediately changed the trajectory of the franchise. Since taking over in 2017, he has led Los Angeles to multiple division titles, two Super Bowl appearances, and a Super Bowl championship, all while becoming one of the youngest coaches in league history to hit nearly every major postseason milestone.

Now, still years away from his mid-40s, McVay is knocking on the door of a record previously owned by one of football’s most iconic figures.

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