Few teams in the NFL had higher expectations last season than the Los Angeles Rams. After a flurry of trades and the signing of Ndamukong Suh, the Rams quickly rose the ranks to become one of the favorites to win it all.

Among media members and even fans, many viewed 2018 as “Super Bowl or bust” for Los Angeles. The Rams obviously didn’t win a Lombardi Trophy, but does that make their season a “bust?” Hardly.

It ended in disappointing fashion, but the Rams met just about every expectation by even making it to the Super Bowl – something they hadn’t done since the 2001 season. They still look like one of the best teams in the league on paper, despite losing Rodger Saffold, Lamarcus Joyner and inevitably Ndamukong Suh.

That doesn’t mean it’ll be easy for them to get back to the big game, which Sean McVay fully understands. He told Myles Simmons of the Rams’ official site that he talked to Dan Quinn about the Falcons’ Super Bowl loss to New England and how they learned from it.

McVay is using Atlanta’s loss and the Patriots’ the following year against the Eagles as examples for the Rams when it comes to bouncing back from disappointment in the final game of the season.

“I think everybody talks about the consistency at what New England’s been able to do, and you look at the way they responded to a great game against Philly and they found a way to consistently produce and then find a way to get it done this year,” McVay said. “For us, it’s not about the end goal — it’s about producing in the present. And that’s what we’ll consistently focus on.”

McVay is a big proponent of taking things one day at a time and not looking too far ahead into the future. The ultimate goal is to make it back to the Super Bowl, of course, but like Les Snead said at the combine, the Rams aren’t looking that far ahead “at this point in time.”

It’s far from certain that Los Angeles will be back in the Super Bowl again next year and making that assumption would be a mistake for everyone in the building.

“I think everybody that has a natural inclination to say, ‘Oh, you’ll be back.’ It’s not like that at all,” McVay said. “For us, it’s about building one day at a time, and understanding that there’s 31 other teams that have the same goals that we do, and great coaches, great players. And we’ve got to do it the right way. And, again, not lose sight of what helped us have success over the last couple years. But we’ve got to adjust, adapt, evolve, and then figure out the 2019 Rams specific to our players and our coaches — how can we figure out to be the best versions of ourselves every single day.”

The Rams bounced back from their letdown against the Falcons in the wild-card round last year, and now they’ll have to do the same following their Super Bowl defeat.