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Rams sack veteran defensive coach Wade Phillips despite winning record

Veteran defensive co-ordinator Wade Phillips has been fired by the Rams after three winning seasons. He ran a defence that backstopped Los Angeles to 33 regular-season victories, two NFC West titles and four playoff games.

2016 Super Bowl champion with Broncos wants to stay in coaching at age 72

The Associated Press ·
The Rams on Monday fired defensive co-ordinator Wade Phillips after missing the playoffs for the first time in his three years with the NFL team. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)

Veteran defensive co-ordinator Wade Phillips has been fired by the Los Angeles Rams after three winning seasons.

Phillips announced Monday on Twitter that the Rams are not renewing his contract. The 72-year-old says he wants to stay in coaching.

The Rams finished 9-7 this season, missing the playoffs for the first time in Phillips' three-year partnership with Sean McVay. Although Phillips' distinctive 3-4 defence finished near the top of the NFL in many advanced metrics again this season, McVay has decided to shake up his coaching staff for a third consecutive off-season.

Phillips and the offence-minded McVay joined the Rams together in 2017, with the veteran co-ordinator serving as an experienced counterpoint and adviser to the youngest head coach in modern NFL history. Phillips also ran a defence that backstopped the Rams to 33 regular-season victories, two NFC West titles and four playoff games in three seasons.

The Rams won the NFC championship last season, and Phillips' defence held New England to 13 points in the lowest-scoring Super Bowl ever. But McVay's offence scored only three points against the Patriots, and its fall from the league's elite continued this season.

Employed by 11 NFL franchises

Phillips' defence remained largely solid this season, as it had been for his entire tenure in Los Angeles. Led by Aaron Donald, the Rams finished near the middle of the league this season in points and yards allowed, but the defence's bad games were glaring debacles that inflated the statistics of an otherwise above-average unit.

Phillips has coached in the NFL since 1976, working for 11 franchises. The son of famed coach Bum Phillips was a head coach at Denver, Buffalo, Dallas, New Orleans, Atlanta and Houston.

He co-ordinated the defence with which the Broncos won the Super Bowl four years ago, earning Phillips' first championship ring.

The Rams' defence consistently outplayed McVay's offence this season, but the bad games were stinkers.

Los Angeles gave up a combined 144 points in losses to Tampa Bay, Baltimore and Dallas while the Rams missed the playoffs by one game.

Heavy staff turnover

Last month, the defence also allowed San Francisco to convert on two third-and-16 plays on the final drive leading to the 49ers' winning points in the loss that eliminated the Rams from the post-season race.

"I want to thank them for the opportunity to be a part of their success the last three years," Phillips wrote. "Most of all I want to thank the players who I loved working with. I still want to coach and feel I can contribute."

McVay's success has led to heavy staff turnover for Los Angeles, but the previous upheaval had been about assistants leaving for bigger jobs. The Rams lost Matt LaFleur and Greg Olson after they went 11-5 and won the division in McVay's debut season in 2017, and the Rams lost Zac Taylor a year ago after their Super Bowl run.

The candidates to be Phillips' replacement are likely to include Aubrey Pleasant, the Rams' young cornerbacks coach. Pleasant spent four seasons coaching alongside McVay in Washington before they joined the Rams together in 2017.

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