THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Always one to focus on the present, Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris has delivered again for his playoff-bound employer.

With the Rams needing a major turnaround to qualify for the NFL postseason, Morris was a steadying force, exhorting players to stay in the moment daily. The Rams got locked-in and won seven of eight games after their bye week to clinch an NFC wild-card berth.

As the Rams prepare to face the Detroit Lions during the wild-card round Sunday at Ford Field in Detroit, Morris is reveling in the challenge of trying to help them reach the Super Bowl for the second time in three seasons. Whenever the Rams’ season ends, though, Morris will refocus his efforts on achieving a personal goal: becoming an NFL head coach again.

Since his three-year stint as coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ended, Morris has been among the league’s most successful assistant coaches. Highly skilled in matters of X’s and O’s as well as an inspirational leader, Morris has nothing left to prove. His coaching bona fides are unquestioned.

All Morris needs is another opportunity to become one of the league’s 32 coaches. For a long time now, he has been waiting for it. ESPN senior NFL insider Adam Schefter reported Monday that the Washington Commanders requested permission to interview Morris for their coaching job.

“I’m not very easily frustrated when it comes to being one of 32 in anything we’re doing in this league. That’s not the word I would use,” Morris told Andscape after practice recently. “There aren’t many of those jobs. We know that. So I’m not frustrated.

“It’s more of a drive [to be a head coach again]. It’s more of a … it’s a want to. It’s more of a feeling of wanting to lead a team. To do that, to get there, I have to find as many ways as possible to be productive in my job now in order to open up those opportunities.”

Morris has already done more than enough to reach the top of the ladder again.

After winning Super Bowl LVI, the Rams went 5-12 last season and missed the playoffs. Too many things went wrong. That season, there was just too much for the Rams to overcome.

Early during this season, things were still trending in the wrong direction. Entering their bye week, the Rams were 3-6.

Morris wasn’t worried.

As coach Sean McVay’s top lieutenant and most trusted adviser, Morris is a rock of stability in the team’s training complex. He never wavered in his belief that McVay had the Rams on the right path for a turnaround. Players responded to his energy.

When the Rams struggled during their Super Bowl-winning season (in November 2021, they lost three straight by an average of 13.7 points), Morris remained similarly resolute in sticking with McVay’s plan.

The Rams got it turned around that season, too, going 9-1 (a 27-24 loss in overtime to the San Francisco 49ers was the only blemish) in their final 10 games including the playoffs. In the Rams’ 23-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI, Morris’ game plan helped the defense sack Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow seven times.

The defense also made two critical fourth-down stands near midfield. One occurred early in the game and led to the Rams’ first touchdown. The other happened late in the fourth quarter, sealing the franchise’s first NFL title since the 1999 season.

Morris’ approach to coaching and life is straightforward and sound.

“You can’t be bored with the mundane,” he said. “We tell our players all the time that when technique and opportunity meet, when that comes together, that’s when you get the opportunity to present your best self.

“For me, it’s no different. Perfect your craft. Perfect your technique. Do what you have to do every single day to be the best you can. And then when you find that match and you get your next opportunity, you take advantage of it.”