ANGELES — Chris Shula is aware that when new people hear his last name and meet him, they will probably think of the guys who came before him.
Shula is the late Hall of Fame coach Don Shula’s grandson. From 1992 until 1996, his father, David Shula, was the coach of the Cincinnati Bengals.
Because of this, the new defensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams occasionally introduced himself without using his last name when he was coaching because he was “almost a little embarrassed.” Because of his family history, he didn’t want people to believe that he was in “certain positions.”
“I always had a little chip on my shoulder to kind of work extra hard to show that I earned whatever role I got or whatever,” Chris Shula stated. It is now something I am really proud of.
Since joining Sean McVay’s staff in 2017, Shula has gained knowledge from a number of former Rams defensive coordinators in addition to his football family. Shula commended Wade Phillips, Brandon Staley, and Raheem Morris—who was hired as the Falcons’ coach this offseason—during his inaugural news conference for the lessons he acquired while working under them.
He discussed the lessons he learned from each coach, but he also talked about the defensive coordinator he wants to become. He stated that his main concern is ensuring that it’s “about the players.”
“It’s relentless pursuit of the ball, it’s getting off blocks, it’s tackling and it’s taking the ball away and defense hasn’t changed over that over the course of time,” Shula stated. That will be the main focus of this defense.
“Now, we do want to keep an element where we want to have an identity, but we also want to have an element of unpredictability where we want to keep the offense guessing.”
McVay preserved defensive continuity by elevating a coach who was already on his staff, which is crucial considering how inexperienced the group is without Aaron Donald.
Shula stated that he discovered the importance of “coaches being aligned” during the previous season when working with a youthful team.
“I think last year our coaching staff, and it started with Sean [McVay] and obviously to Raheem [Morris] where we were so aligned and in our beliefs … and everything that we expected with every defense.”
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