Sean McVay can make statement facing Sean Payton

Wiz kid Sean McVay has his Los Angeles Rams one step away from the Super Bowl . Standing in his way? The older genius, Sean Payton.

In Week 9, the Los Angeles Rams were riding high as the NFL’s only undefeated team, running up an 8-0 record that included impressive wins over the Los Angeles Chargers, Green Bay Packers, Seattle Seahawks, and Minnesota Vikings. With Sean McVay at the helm and Jared Goff playing at an MVP level, the Rams had every reason to believe they’d emerge victorious against the New Orleans Saints, as formidable as the 6-1 Saints were.

Instead, McVay’s Rams were thoroughly outclassed. They had zero answers for Saints superstar wideout Michael Thomas, who undressed Marcus Peters time after time. Thomas exposed both Peters and Wade Phillips’s defense, showcasing the vulnerabilities on the Rams defense for all the world to see, en route to 12 receptions for 211 yards on 15 targets and a lovely Joe Horn “callback” celebration. The Rams got theirs on offense, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the 45 points they surrendered to Drew Brees and the New Orleans offense, falling 45-35.

All the pressure is on McVay to avenge this loss with much higher stakes. Remaining undefeated and winning a regular season game was more than enough reason to win in Week 9, sure, but now all the chips are on the table for the Rams in the NFC Championship Game. Los Angeles managed to survive Amari Cooper and the Dallas Cowboys in the divisional round by simply running all over the imposing Cowboys defense, but can they have the same success against a Saints defense that allowed a meager 3.6 yards per carry this season (second-best in the NFL)?

Sean Payton has proven that he’s one of the best head coaches in the game, especially in high-pressure situations. He’s famous for changing the momentum of the Saints Super Bowl victory over the Indianapolis Colts nine years ago by calling for an onside kick at the stroke of half-time. And just last week, Payton dialed up a fake punt and another fourth-down conversion to help the Saints swing the momentum in their favor against the Philadelphia Eagles, who had been dominant through one quarter of play.

Though 23 years younger and with far less head coaching experience, McVay has already shown that he’s one of the best coaching minds and play-callers in the league in his own right.

The problem is that he has to prove he’s on Payton’s level with everything on the line. One aspect of McVay’s coaching that will be tested is his ability to get conversions in high-leverage situations, specifically on fourth down. Those calls will need to be made and those plays will need to be converted, if the Rams close regular season loss to the Saints is any indication.

This season, the Saints were the second-best team in the NFL at converting on fourth down, successfully moving the chains on 13 of their 15 attempts. Meanwhile, the Rams were the third-worst, converting just 40-percent of the time, making them worse than the Buffalo Bills and Arizona Cardinals in that respect.

While McVay has done an incredible job of building a juggernaut offense that has two legitimate, every-game 100-yard rushers in Todd Gurley and CJ Anderson, a bevy of excellent pass-catchers led by Robert Woods (allegedly the best in the game, or so I’ve heard on a broadcast somewhere) and Brandin Cooks, and a quarterback with a 101.1 QB Rating in Goff, he still has a chip on his shoulder. Though he would be forgiven for losing to Payton, Brees, and the vaunted Saints, if he is to meet the levels of hype that have been created around his photographic memory and rapid ascent, he has to win these games.

Payton, when it comes to risk-taking and offensive firepower, is the master. McVay is the young up-and-comer who must beat this “end boss” in the NFC in order to make the Super Bowl in just his second season as a head coach. His struggle mirrors Goff’s struggle in trying to outduel fellow MVP candidate Brees, except McVay has the additional responsibility of making the tough calls – like when to go for it on fourth down.

The Saints beat the Rams in the regular season, had the better record, and ranked five to six points higher defensively in terms of points per game and yards per game allowed. For all intents and purposes, the Saints are the favorites in this matchup, but only by a slight margin. The Rams offense was slightly better than New Orleans’s, and their defense was more adept at creating turnovers. They have strengths that match up well with the Saints; this is certainly a matchup they can win.

But when two evenly-matched teams face in a championship game, coaching starts to matter even more. The small decisions, the attention to detail, and the fourth-down decisions are magnified in importance, with any error liable to go punished. This is the biggest test of McVay’s highly impressive career thus far, and if he can outduel Payton and head to the Super Bowl, he’ll be one step closer to calling himself the best in the business.