{"id":358509,"date":"2025-12-20T22:31:04","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T22:31:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/358509\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T22:31:04","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T22:31:04","slug":"rams-reportedly-fire-special-teams-coordinator-chase-blackburn-after-thursday-night-implosion-vs-seahawks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/358509\/","title":{"rendered":"Rams reportedly fire special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn after Thursday night implosion vs. Seahawks"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Rams missed a field goal and allowed a 58-yard punt return touchdown that sparked an improbable Seattle Seahawks fourth-quarter comeback during a 38-37 overtime loss<\/a> Thursday night.<\/p>\n

Special teams have been a weak link for the Rams in critical moments this season, and now, ahead of a potential playoff run, head coach Sean McVay is reportedly making a change in that phase of the game.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The Rams have fired special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Saturday<\/a>. This is McVay’s first-ever in-season coaching change in his nine seasons at the helm, per Schefter, who also reported<\/a> that Rams assistant special teams coach Ben Kotwica will take over for Blackburn.<\/p>\n

L.A.’s loss to Seattle was significant. Now the Seahawks have the inside track to win the NFC West and secure the NFC’s top seed, which of course comes with a first-round bye and home-field advantage.<\/p>\n

The Rams dropped to 11-4 on the season. Of their four losses during the 2025 campaign, three featured special teams gaffes.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

In Week 3, L.A. staked itself to a 26-7 lead on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Rams ended up losing, in part because kicker Joshua Karty had a pair of fourth-quarter field-goal attempts blocked. Eagles defensive tackle Jordan Davis returned the second one for a walk-off touchdown<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Then in Week 5, L.A. suffered the first of its two “Thursday Night Football” defeats. Karty, a 2024 sixth-round pick from Stanford, missed a 53-yard field goal attempt and had a fourth-quarter extra point attempt blocked against the San Francisco 49ers. Those special teams missteps cost the Rams four points in a game that the Niners won by three in overtime.<\/p>\n

Ahead of its Week 10 matchup against San Francisco, L.A. made serious modifications to its kicking operation. The Rams pivoted from Karty to former Missouri star Harrison Mevis<\/a>, who went undrafted last year and then spent time in the UFL. They also replaced long snapper Alex Ward with Jake McQuaide, who previously had that job from 2011-2020.<\/p>\n

Mevis has made all 32 of his PATs since. He’s gone of 8 of 9 on field goals. His lone miss came from 48 yards out on a potential go-ahead kick with a bit more than two minutes remaining in regulation Thursday against the Seahawks. It was 30-30 at the time.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Seattle entered the fourth quarter down 30-14. But Rashid Shaheed’s punt return touchdown changed the game. It set the stage for the first of two Seahawks two-point conversions in their come-from-behind victory<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Blackburn, 42, was in his third season as the Rams’ special teams coordinator. They hired him ahead of the 2023 season.<\/p>\n

Before that, Blackburn \u2014 who played 10 NFL seasons as a linebacker, first for the New York Giants and then for the Carolina Panthers \u2014 worked as an assistant for the Panthers and Tennessee Titans. Notably, he served as the Titans’ special teams coordinator from 2018-2021.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

With a loaded offense and a top-10 scoring defense, the Rams are headed in a different special teams direction, hoping for an uptick in play in the third phase of the game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Rams missed a field goal and allowed a 58-yard punt return touchdown that sparked an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[7580,154637,49,48,1744,154636,38387,24811,32698,84769,1749,1728,514,1747,29892,5886,948,21327,1739,132393,82,1741],"class_list":["post-358509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-adam-schefter","tag-alex-ward","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-carolina-panthers","tag-chase-blackburn","tag-field-goal","tag-harrison-mevis","tag-jake-mcquaide","tag-joshua-karty","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-new-york-giants","tag-nfl","tag-philadelphia-eagles","tag-rashid-shaheed","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-sean-mcvay","tag-seattle-seahawks","tag-special-teams","tag-sports","tag-tennessee-titans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}