Chris Shula preparing for Panthers, not head coaching interviews

Sean McVay’s coaching tree has grown incredibly fast since he became a head coach himself in 2017. The next branch could be defensive coordinator Chris Shula, who’s expected to garner interest from several of the teams currently with head coaching vacancies.

Teams can’t even request to interview Shula yet because the Rams are playing in the wild-card round, but after this week, McVay knows the calls will be coming in for his impressive defensive coordinator.

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McVay said he would be “very surprised” if Shula doesn’t get a few head coaching interviews. Shula isn’t focused on future opportunities, though. He’s preparing to face a Panthers team that beat the Rams in Week 13, aiming to fix a leaky defense that has been exploited at times.

“I have a routine that I do every single week to be ready to play games, and this week’s going to be no different,” Shula said. “I’m going to lock in on that routine, segment my mind and lock in on it. All I'm worried about, we have an opponent that’s extremely capable of beating us, obviously. That warrants all my attention so that’s what they’re going to get.”

Shula would be interested in becoming a head coach someday, but for right now, he’s only worried about helping the Rams win playoff games, beginning with Saturday’s.

“I mean, if the right spot and the right context, if the right situation presents itself, when that time comes, then we’ll decide that,” Shula said. Sit down with Sean and everybody I'm close to and make that decision.”

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Shula has been the Rams’ defensive coordinator since replacing Raheem Morris in 2024. He’s been on McVay’s staff since he started in L.A. in 2017, so he’s worked his way up the ranks and is on the doorstep of reaching the pinnacle of potentially becoming a head coach.

This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Rams' Chris Shula preparing for Panthers, not head coaching interviews