THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- "Hold up!" a loud voice echoed inside the Los Angeles Rams locker room, after a celebratory postgame cheer.
John Fassel, the Rams' special teams coordinator, stepped to the middle of the room.
"When you talk about adversity, we've got a great leader, who always carries us through the highs and the lows," Fassel hollered in Rams coach Sean McVay's direction. "When it's time to work, he keeps focused on the mission."
Fassel handed McVay a game ball. "For everything you do," he said.
Ten months after McVay took the Rams to Super Bowl LIII, was hailed as an offensive genius and sent teams with coaching vacancies scrambling and reaching to hire anyone remotely connected to him, the Rams' 33-year-old coach has drifted back to reality.