The Super Bowl should be the furthest thing from the Los Angeles Rams’ mind as they try to scramble back into playoff contention this week, yet a Super Sunday from the past could be the inspiration for Sean McVay’s team to have a stupendous Sunday night. 

Once the wunderkind of NFL coaches when he burst onto the scene at age 31, McVay already has one Super Bowl title and two trips to the championship game in eight seasons at the helm in Los Angeles.

Still just 38, McVay is 75-50 in the regular season as an NFL head coach, with 11 victories in 18 playoff games to compile an impressive body of work at such a young age.

Yet, one of his heartbreaking misses will be front and center on Sunday.

Generating quite the buzz this week is the upcoming duel between the Rams’ offensive guru and Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. And it harkens back to the Super Bowl following the 2018 season, even though Fangio was watching that game from home.

With the Rams proving to be an offensive machine in 2018, they ran into a buzzsaw in Week 14 when they lost 15-6 to the Chicago Bears and their defensive coordinator in Fangio, while dropping to 11-2 on the season.

That McVay offense got back on track to average 34.0 points over the final three regular-season games, then carried Los Angeles into the Super Bowl.

That date against the Bears would have been a mere afterthought except that Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots took a gamble that Fangio’s defensive scheme was the best way to win Super Bowl LIII. It ended up being paramount in the 13-3 victory.

Belichick’s Patriots had won five previous Super Bowls at the time, but he knew a good strategy when he saw one. That sixth title is the last one he won before leaving New England following the 2023 season.

The odds of Fangio selling out with a six-man front and aggressive secondary play this week, like he did against the Rams in 2018, seem slim. Times do change.

The Eagles do have the NFL’s best defense under Fangio, so why change? But they also have a pair of rookie cornerbacks in Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean that have to deal with the Rams’ skilled wide receiver duo of Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua.

The mind games are enticing.

Just who will have to react to who first? Considering the Rams’ tendency to start slow on offense and the inability to be effective with a rehearsed plan, can they really excel with a varied look? Would that just make the Eagles’ defense look even better?

“The biggest thing that I would say that makes Vic a great coach is he’s going to adjust, adapt, and figure out what is going to be best given the circumstances,” McVay said this week.

Fangio has certainly shown he is comfortable devising a scheme for a particular offense. Perhaps McVay has a wrinkle in store, and his playcalling in recent weeks was designed to not give too much away as this particular game approached.

Or maybe Fangio’s stellar defensive line, against McVay’s talented and finally healthy offensive line, is where it all gets decided. As it should. No tricks. Strength on strength.

“They’re one of the best defenses in the league and by a lot of metrics,” McVay said. “They’re arguably the best.”

Fangio was ready with compliments as well.

“For them to be at this point in the season with the injuries they have had speaks highly of their players and their coaching staff,” Fangio said. “Now they are back pretty much to full strength offensively and they will be a tough group to defend.”

Indeed, there will be no personnel secrets Sunday. And yet there still should be plenty of surprises.