60 Minutes - 09/13/2026: Shot Down Over Iran, The Pardon Economy, Battering Ram

Episode Date: September 14, 2026

After a U.S. fighter jet was shot down over Iran 34 days into the war, the Air Force and American special forces rescued the two-man crew in one of the riskiest and most complex operations of its kind in U.S. military history. In his first interview, one of the rescued Air Force officers speaks to correspondent Norah O’Donnell about his harrowing ejection from the F-15E fighter and spending two days alone on the ground in Iran—injured, stranded, with a bounty on his head and the enemy closing in. 60 MINUTES tells the story of the two-day search and rescue operation that was completed on Easter Sunday, April 5.Presidents have pardoned criminals since the time of George Washington. It’s a constitutional power that has been controversial from the start—but perhaps never more so than during the Trump presidency. Lesley Stahl and 60 MINUTES investigate the world of lawyers and lobbyists who have created a new pardon economy.Correspondent Jon Wertheim reports from the sidelines of a Los Angeles Rams' preseason practice and sits down with the organization’s highest-profile voices: Head Coach Sean McVay, General Manager Les Snead, and MVP quarterback Matthew Stafford. 60 MINUTES gets an inside look at the Los Angeles Rams, hailed as a superteam and an early favorite to win the Super Bowl.

When an American war plane was shot down over Iran, the U.S. military launched one of the largest rescue operations in its history to find this officer. Given your injuries, how did you find the strength to make it up the mountain? His first interview tonight. Presidents have been pardoning criminals since George Washington. How did these people get their grievances in the president's ear? This is what I was led to believe. If you come with this money, you will get a pardon. Those who can pay hire pardon brokers.

I don't think you're pardoned. I don't think it'll be too difficult. The L.A. Rams are a, maybe the premier NFL franchise, wound tightly on the team's tightly wound leader, Sean McVeigh. Oh, I'm a lot tormented. You're a lot tormented. What's tormenting you right now? The practice that we just had.

That's why I'm in such a great mood. I'm Leslie Stahl. I'm John Wertheim. I'm Nora O'Donnell. I'm Ross Douthit. I'm Bill Whitaker. Those stories and more tonight on the 59th season premiere of 60 Minutes. When an American fighter jet was shot down over Iran this past April 2nd,

not one but two U.S. Air Force officers were left stranded, alone in a rugged mountain range being pursued by Iranian forces. To prevent their capture, five weeks into a costly and unpopular war that has taken the lives of 18 U.S. service members, the U.S. military launched one of the largest search and rescue operations in its history. Tonight we begin our 59th season with how the mission unfolded. We'll show you newly declassified footage, and you'll meet the colonel, who lived through it all to tell us the story.

When the U.S. went to war with Iran this past February, it was by the U.S. went to war with Iran this past February, it was by sea, by land, but mostly from the air. Broadly, we had flown about 13,000 missions up to this point. We had air superiority, but clearly we weren't flying over Kansas. Admiral Brad Cooper is the American commander in charge of the war. We asked him what brought the fighter jet to a mountainous area south of the city of Isfahan, close to where Iran had been keeping much of its highly enriched, nuclear material. What were they doing in that area? Their mission that evening was to conduct a

strike on industrial facilities related to both the drone and the missile program, not related to the Esfahan nuclear facility. The plane's mission call sign was due to 4-4. It was an F-15E, a type of two-seat fighter that's been a workhorse of U.S. air combat operations for decades. The $30 million jet was brought down by a shoulder-fired missile that can cost around 100,000. Evidence of the wreckage was shared online by Iranian media. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was woken up Thursday night with the news. When you heard that an American fighter jet was down behind enemy lines in Iran, what went through your mind? Probably, you know, you always knew that was possible. And so immediately it's to the next steps.

Are they okay? Does Iran know that? And, you know, whether they're alive or not, we're going to go get them. That day was just another day in the war for us until the moment where we got hit by an Iranian weapon. This is Bravo, one of the two officers shot down over Iran. Neither has spoken publicly until now. I think the best way I've been able to describe that moment was getting hit by a freight train. We've agreed to call the weapons systems officer by his mission call sign, Bravo, due to security threats from Iran.

We do all we can to try to save the aircraft. It was evident that that wasn't possible. And soon thereafter, we ejected and found ourselves. floating over the heart of Iran. So within seconds you're ejecting. That's how quick the decision is. It is. I will be thankful to my dying day for my pilot and crewmate, Alpha, for saving our lives and ejecting us. After they ejected, Alpha and Bravo found themselves five miles apart, separated and alone

on the ground in the rugged Iranian desert. Alpha landed safely. Bravo was lucky to be alive. My parachute was damaged in the initial attack at one point when I looked up and saw no parachute. That was the most terrifying thing I've ever seen. So I paused right then, and I prayed, Lord you will be done.

But if I'm getting through this, I need help. While you're in the air. Yeah. Is that almost like free-falling, or how would you describe that? Free-falling is a good way to put it. I wasn't focused on the speed at which I was falling. I was instead focused on trying to correct the problems that were in front of me and doing anything I could to unfurl or pull pieces of the parachute loose.

We'll never know just how fast Bravo was falling. But we do know the military trains to survive. hard landings. So how fast do you think you were going when you hit the ground? Professionals, based on my description and the injuries that I had, the professionals think I hit the ground going somewhere between 70 and 100 miles an hour. How did you survive that? A modern day miracle.

I believe that it's a testament to God's provision in my life to bring me through that moment in a way that didn't prevent injuries, but prevented any catastrophic injuries that would have affected my ability to survive. The fall broke Bravo's back. He also sustained a broken arm, broken shoulder, sprained ankle, and was bleeding from cuts and scrapes to his head and face. I had injuries, but we all trained to adapt and overcome the things that were faced with. I moved as quickly as I could, despite the injuries, away from the place.

that I landed. It's dark, right? And can you tell me what you see around you? It is dark, but much like early morning hunting trips, you know, the sun starts to come up and you can start to perceive elements of the environment around you. Iran is the size of Alaska. And in the heart of Iran where we were, there are high desert valleys, but also amazing cragly cliffs.

And so I find myself in one of those valleys. those valleys with cliffs on either side. Bravo told us the safest place for him to go was up, so he quickly made the decision, despite his broken bones, to hike and climb up a 7,000-foot ridge line. Given your injuries, how did you find the strength to make it up the mountain?

Never let a lack of motivation put you on Iranian TV. You were thinking that. Absolutely. Soon after the crash, an Iranian news anchor announced a bounty for the capture of the Americans. Videos emerged on the Internet of armed groups hunting for the down crew. I can tell you for a fact that they were looking for me. According to U.S. military sources, Iranian forces got to within a few hundred meters of Bravo. There was clear intent out of the Iranian ground force to come find those two guys.

guys. General Dan Cain is chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a former fighter pilot himself. When you think about the risk of them being potentially trotted through someplace downtown in Tehran on TV, that's not a fun thing for anybody. We were tracking Iranian forces like BBs. They were about 1,500 within a 10-mile radius, and we were watching them very closely. Six hours in, the U.S. had its eye on Alpha, the pilot. This is declassified video of the risky daytime raid to pick him up. Two helicopters of the 21 aircraft deployed. Videos posted on social media showed American helicopters taking fire. It was a gunfight all the way in, all the way out, but they got Alpha back, and then we began to immediately, I mean, you're celebrating

that Alpha's back, but you realize the job's only half done. Bravo was still missing. Alpha's rescue force attempted to also locate him, but was unsuccessful and eventually withdrew. Then, as night fell on that first day in Iran, a message from Bravo. When were you first able to send a signal? As soon as I found a spot that I felt provided some concealment, I started working toward communication. What did you say in that message? When I got to the moment where I could review and think about all that I'd gone through, I sent God as good as a recognition of all that he had brought me through.

There was a, I'm hurt, I'm moving, and there was a God is good message that came in there. Now we knew he was alive. He's moving. Okay, let's keep planning. There was the thought of maybe going on Friday night first, but it just didn't line up. That was a really tough decision. I'll never forget being in the situation room and saying, okay, I guess we're going to roll a 20. which means, hey, Bravo's going to be out there for basically 24 hours more.

Bravo would have to survive with almost no water and no food in the wind in the cold of the high mountain desert for another full day. In the end, it was the CIA that played a pivotal role, launching a multi-pronged campaign, which included deception to confuse Iranian forces and top-secret technology to pinpoint Bravo's exact location. To clear the way for his rescue, American bombers and drones hit Iran's Revolutionary Guard forces nearby, as seen in this newly declassified video. Nearly two days after Dude 4-4 went down, it was time to go in for Bravo. And how many special operators did that involve? That second operation had about 92 people on the ground. This would be the first

U.S. boots on the ground in 46 years. In Iran? In Iran. We had about several hundred in the air, and there were probably three to five thousand supporting overall. It was an operation inside an operation. So in order to get out one, there were close to a hundred other service members involved in risking their lives on the ground. I think what you need to know is we would have sent more to go get the backseater. I don't know the specifics of what they sent, but I'm glad they sent it. The force came in on two large search and rescue planes and landed on a makeshift desert airstrip. They then unloaded small little bird helicopters, capable of reaching Bravo on the ridgeline several miles away.

This is Bravo on the ridge line, waiting to be picked up. The Pentagon declassified this video of the rescue. We asked General Kane to take us through it. Well, we're looking at a feed from an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance asset. That's 4-4 Bravo up there, I'm quite sure. And we've got two special forces folks coming forward, and it looks like they're bringing them out. The two service members on either side of Bravo were elite Air Force pararescue operators, known in the military, as PJs. The moment of PJ showed up to me on that ridge line was one of the greatest moment.

of my life. And I don't know how to say it anymore clearly than thank you for all that they did. What did your rescuers say when they got to you? The specific conversation, I think I'll leave for another time as I don't want to release anything that's not just my story to tell. What did you say to them? Let's go. Bravo was in American hands, but not out of danger. Back at the makeshift airstrip, the rescue planes landing gear was stuck in the desert sand, and the planes could not take off. You had more than 90 service members on the ground

that then needed to be rescued. We had more than 90 of America's most elite service members on the ground, and our focus at that point was to make sure we got them safely out. It took a clandestine unit of the U.S. Air Force to get Bravo and the 90-plus special operators out of Iran. The U.S. then bombed its own marooned aircraft, so no technology fell into Iranian hands. Fifty hours after being shot down, Bravo was safe, rescued as the sun rose on Easter Sunday. Back home in the U.S., his wife waited for a call.

What was that call like? I was really proud of her and grateful for the strength that she showed. What do you want the American people to know about this rescue mission? This is not a story about what I went through. Instead, it's a story of the teamwork, the training, of the faith, of the decisions, the leadership to do something that will live in history as an example of what America's willing to do in order to uphold our promise and leave no man behind. Gooday, I'm Justin Wolffers, host of the Platterpus Economics podcast.

If there's one thing I've learned from a career teaching economics, it's that your life is shaped by economic currents you'll never see. A single price tag can explain things a thousand experts can't. People who understand economics, they make better decisions in their careers, their finances, their relationships, and their communities. And I want that for you. Listen to and follow Platterpus Economics, available now wherever you get your podcasts. Presidents have been pardoning criminals since George Washington.

It's a constitutional power. No explanation needed. The Department of Justice does screen applicants and typically only recommends those who remorsefully seek mercy. But that's not always been the process. President Ford pardoned Richard Nixon. President Clinton, Mark Rich, after donations. President Biden, his son Hunter, and Anthony Fauci. Anthony Fauci. President Trump, he's developed his own vetting system, pardoning political

allies, including all of the January 6th rioters, as well as a string of unrepentant financial conmen who argued just like him that they were wrongly prosecuted. How do these people get their grievances in the president's ear? Donations appear to help, and those who can pay higher pardoned brok. lawyers and lobbyists who sell their ties to the president for exorbitant fees. It's a marketplace of money and mercy. Amin Kavino is seeking a pardon. Seated is his wife Crystal, and joining them at this Virginia Hotel Lounge

are lobbyists Jacob Wohl and Jack Berkman, who don't know they're being recorded as they pitch their services as pardon brokers. Look, you can't just submit a pardon application. It doesn't work that way. Amon is a felon. The Covino's run several zoos and aquariums. A decade ago, he was convicted of illegal wildlife trafficking and served 23 months in prison.

He applied for a pardon taking the regular route through the Justice Department. We just filled out the form. It's a three-page form. And what happened? When the pardons came out, we were on the list of rejections. So we asked him to try again the new way. Why?

We had wanted to interview brokers who promised pardon seekers they can circumvent the Justice Department for a hefty fee. What they do is not illegal, yet none would talk to us. So he asked Ammon to engage with these access merchants as if he's reapplying for a pardon and let our cameras follow him. him. First, he emailed a dozen of these brokers. How fast did they get back to you? Some got right away and some within a day. Right away. Yes, exclamation point, exclamation point. We're the people that can help you do that. I kept saying, this feels illegal. I get on my AI and say, is this illegal? No, this is how it's done. But thanks for taking my call. Looking at our case, you think... In a series of phone calls, one broker after another

bragged about their close relationships to President Trump's inner circle. Okay, thanks, guys. We are about to... This duo replied to Ammon's email within seven minutes. We encourage everyone to act with the highest professionalism. Jack Berkman and Jacob Wohl are Trump loyalists with a long resume of political stunts. Who's next? Who's next?

We got that one. Be cool. Their robocall scheme to suppress black voting in 2020 led to a criminal conviction. Now in the pardons game, they claim they got one for this owner of a nursing home chain, convicted of massive tax fraud. He paid them nearly a million dollars for their promise to reach the president. We found that some brokers charge as much as $3 million. So we decided to use hidden cameras and sent the Kavinos to meet Berkman and Mool.

I don't think your pardon. I don't think it would be too difficult. They said they would put Ammon's pardon plea in the hands of the president and push. With this particular white house, you have to put pressure on the president from all directions in a consistent way to force his hand. We literally want to put the pen in his hand and get him beside it because he's tired of hearing about it. So when you went the regular route, how much did it cost you? A postage stamp. Postage stamp. That's it.

And this would cost you $300,000. What did you say? What's it for? And they said, well, we have to buy tickets. We have to go to Mirralago. We have to attend events that the president's at. We have to possibly buy a $10,000 ticket to a fundraiser that the president is attending. They said we have to hire contractors to do certain things.

Influencers that know other people that can put us in the vicinity of the people that can make a difference. What we do is we mobilize members of Congress to call him. We use certain influencers who have regular meetings to call him. And we put him in a pincered movement. Bercman and Wohl made a similar pitch to Boozy Badass. And Alexander I'm a king. A rapper with a lengthy criminal record after he was convicted on a gun charge.

This is what I was led to believe. If you come with this money, you will get a pardon. How much did you give them up front? How did you give them up front? 600K. Yeah. We have some texts that they sent to your lawyer. This text listed the influential people they supposedly recruited.

Laura Lumer, Erica Kirk, Mike Johnson, he's the Speaker of the House. Another text, the broker mentions Natalie Harp. She's the executive assistant that's very close to the president. suggest that she's going to personally hand your application to the president? Yeah, yeah. I just thought, I mean, this is the way it's done. I'm paying these guys, you know, and they're going to make it happen. They didn't make it happen.

Boozy didn't get his pardon. As for the four people, they claimed to know, they denied any involvement in the case. Bozzy's contract with the brokers stipulated that if he wasn't pardoned, he'd get half his money back. But they won't pay, claiming the contract is invalid, and denying they sent the text. The rapper is suing.

I say, just returning, you didn't get my part, and it's a bunch of BS. And they were so cocky. There's definitely a lot of money flowing around, and that makes a petri dish for corruption. Law professor Mark Osler of the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota has spent the past 15 years helping indigent felons apply for pardons.

Now, he says, they're locked out of the system. People think, well, if I can get to this person who can find the president of Murillago, if I can pay a million dollars to this friend of a White House counsel, then I will have a shot. And that is not a system. That's something different entirely. It's anarchy.

In the new system, no expression. of remorse that you know of? Well, in fact, what seems to have been a winning tactic for some people is exactly the opposite, saying the people who were wrong were the people who accused me, that I have been a victim of a weaponized Department of Justice. This is a vicious group of people that were in this office before us. Berkman and Wohl told the Kavinos to tap into the president's grievances and say that Ammon was a victim of a weaponized prosecution.

It's a question of reminding the president, this is an Obama prosecution that never should have happened. He told them this White House vets cases differently. So like Trump makes his own decisions, he relies very little on DOJ. So with Trump, DOJ is... It's an afterthought. Until nine days ago, Ed Martin, a Trump appointee, ran the pardon office at DOJ, where 16,000 applications are awaiting a decision. People pay $300,000, a million dollars, $3 million to these brokers to get the application before the president.

Meanwhile, all these other people that you look at at the Department of Justice, they are not getting their pardons. And is that a fair system? I've not seen. I reject your characterization of the system. I've not seen it. I've not heard it. And I sat with a thousand people in the last year in my office, and I listened to them tell, and some of them were ended up with clemency, some of them were pardoned. We checked. About 70% of President Trump's clemencies in his second term have not gone through DOJ. If you include the January 6th rioters, that goes up to 92%.

And we noticed that some pardons came after well-timed donations or a business deal. Take for example this businessman who was sent to prison for fraud. He conned investors with this video of the first zero-emission truck driving along. It was actually a fake, rolling down a hill. After he and his wife donated almost $2 million to support Trump's re-election, he was pardoned. This CEO failed to prevent money laundering on his crypto exchange. exchange. He was pardoned after his company, Binance, boosted a Trump family crypto venture, though both sides deny any connection to the pardon. And this health care executive,

convicted of tax crimes, was pardoned after his mother paid a million dollars to attend a Mara Lago fundraiser. A pardon seeker going to Mara Lago and joining a fundraising event where you had to pay money and then getting a pardon. Why isn't that a quid pro quo? Why isn't that pay to play? I don't know about those examples, but I would just say the prerogative, again, the presidential prerogative, it's in the Constitution, it's complete, it's plenary. When people say there's brokers, there's quid pro quo, I've never seen it. I haven't seen it, I haven't heard it. Ed, the point is they're going around you. Well, I... And the whole point, they're bragging about going around I just don't, I don't see any evidence of some magical brokers.

I think people are trying to make money. So are you saying that these brokers, they're conmen? They're snake oil salesmen, they're swamp salesmen. What do you want? What word do you want? We want to do this. I think we can help you. After we notified Jack Berkman and Jacob Wohl of our hidden camera operation. A sting operation client, a fake client.

A sting run by you, right? They agreed to sit down with us to discuss the new pardon economy. economy. There's nothing corrupt about it. There's nothing improper about it. It seems that you have to have money to get a pardon these days. We don't work for free any more than you do, right? You're well paid for what you do.

We're well paid for what I do. Navigating Washington, as you well know, is not an easy thing. The average person, the average rich person, they need help doing that. How would the president become aware of these cases? through the normal way that presidents have done it for 100 years or more. Well, lobbyists have been hired for two centuries to do just that. People have gone through a system that has been set up. You think there weren't lobbyists working on pardons in the Obama administration or the Biden administration?

There have always been lawyers who are willing to prepare a clemency petition, often for a couple thousand dollars. You know, what's changed is the amount of money that people are charging. Professor Osler hopes the pardon system isn't beyond repair. We have learned that the White House has become sensitive to to the perception that the president is selling pardons. If you go that route, it's... All the brokers warn the Kavinos to avoid donating.

You can't blame people who want to get out of prison for doing what they're told works. But I can blame the people who are making that the system. So it's the brokers and the lobbyists and the lawyers in this game? It's really, in the end, falls on the administration. Ooh, look at that bite.

The Kavinos told us the pardon economy feels like cheating. It feels unfair. It feels unfair. Let's say the money was not an issue for you, that $300,000 was just fine. Would you do it? Yes. I don't like the fact that you have to pay for such a huge amount of money because of who you know, but if that's how the game,

played, then that's how the games played. The White House told us, quote, anyone spending money to lobby for pardons is foolishly wasting their money, adding, quote, President Trump performs his constitutional duties in an ethically sound manner, and to suggest so, otherwise, is either ill-informed or malicious. The next Super Bowl will be held in Los Angeles,

and while it's still early days this season, The odds aren't half bad that for one team, the big game will be a home game. The Rams are a, maybe the premier NFL franchise, Blue Chip, Gold Standard. This preseason, we were invited inside their huddle, so to speak. We found an organization that wins with contradictions, prudence and gunslinging, change and continuity. Braun, yes, but also brain. And the Rams are wound tightly on the team's tightly wound leader, Sean McVeigh. In the decade since the Rams made McVeigh, the young,

the longest head coach in NFL history, he's become a generational talent, pacing toward the best ever, Lombardi, Shula, Belichick. But that push comes at a price. Oh, I'm a lot tormented. You're a lot tormented. What's tormenting you right now?

The practice that we just had, that's why I'm in such a great mood. That practice, a month before the NFL season, seemed typical to us, but Rams coach Sean McVeigh was dissatisfied in the extreme. stream. It's why, honestly, I'm not really here right now. You say you're not really here right now. That's right. Your mind is still on that practice. Totally. Yeah. I feel rude right now with you.

You deserve more attention than what I'm capable of giving right now, and I feel bad about that. No apologies necessary. This was an unvarnished look into a team, bad practices happened, and into the mind of a football genius tortured as he is, especially when confronting lofty expectations. The Rams built a super team studded with talent. Quarterback Matthew Stafford, the NFL's reigning MVP, leads the offense. The Rams traded for Miles Garrett the league's best defender to anchor the other side. And Aaron Donald, perhaps the best defensive lineman ever, just came out of retirement to rejoin the team. We are wired to achieve, and let's make no mistake about it.

When we take the field, the expectations are to win. Let's be honest. So Super Team wins Super Bowl or all this roster couldn't get it done. You're okay with the range of outcome here. Oh, yeah, because I don't buy into those external narratives. I'm more interested in who we become in the midst of the journey than what the final destination is. This was not the talk a decade ago when the lowly Rams were leaving St. Louis and returning to their ancestral home of L.A. I'm taking on water as a GM.

We hadn't had a winning season. It was 2016. Less need, Rams general manager, needed a win. The Rams will drop to four and nine and will finish below 500 for the 10th consecutive season. Sneed's job was on the line, but backed by ownership, the Rams gambled big on an unproven commodity. The 30-year-old dude wet behind the ears gets this opportunity. I just think that it's something that seems a bit stretched to say the least. They made McVeigh the youngest head coach in NFL history.

This guy changes the math. What do you mean? Tactically, when he's in flow, it's like you're trying to defend 12 instead of 11. Wait, wait, you're saying the coach gives you an extra guy in the field. Right. Soon, the math that was changing was on the Rams side of the scoreboard. He brings into the end zone. Touchdown Rams.

In his first season, McVeigh took the Rams to the playoffs and won coach of the year. Rams' offensive coordinator Nate Shieldhouse says McVe's play-calling prowess stems from his power of recall. Yeah, I think his memory, at some point they'll probably end up studying it. This is Sean McVeigh's time in Washington. Examples abound. 58 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Jamison Crowder wheel route down the right side line. Then how do that drive end?

Jordan Reed touched down in a four-by-one individual ISO slant. He's good. He's real good. What was the play call for Puka's first career reception? It was Y-MOTUS south-left, clamp, jack's right, Y-Corp's arm. He's on fire! It's not just a neat party trick. I always feel like if you're remembering, you're moving faster than somebody that's learning.

He's remembering it practically, like pragmatically. That's right. You know, not only remember, but to be able to fix problems in that way. McVeigh grew up in Atlanta, a star high school quarterback. When injuries derailed his college career at Miami of Ohio, he made like his grandfather, John McVeigh, a Super Bowl winning exec with the 49ers, and turned to NFL administration. I wouldn't be where I was, where I am today, if it wasn't for the influence that he had on this league and the people that he came across that gave me chances that I didn't deserve. A foot in the door only gets you so far.

In Washington, McBay rose quickly. At age 27, he was promoted to run the offense, which broke team records. Under McBay, the Rams don't just try to beat opponents. They try to hack them. Right. Touchdown, Los Angeles. Looking to exploit the defense's pattern. Pook at a coin just like that. Football might be a game of inches,

but note here how the Rams' receivers are wide open. Quarterback Matthew Stafford explained it to us. Well, on every single play, a defender is part of an 11-man team that is a responsibility to a gap or an area on the field that is his. And we're going to try to create conflict. And that just comes through endless hours of study and tape talking about it, understanding defensive responsibilities, and knowing their adjustments.

and how can we try to put those adjustments in conflict on every play? That must be such a thrill. It is. You know, those times when you scheme it up and you know what you're about to get, you get it, and you execute it, it's a lot of fun. Perhaps less fun, McVeigh is in Stafford's ear all game, literally. Oh, easy, listen. Radioing each play call into the quarterback's helmet.

Do it a attempt. Yeah, here it is. Woo! I got it. I got it. I got it. Please stop. Yes, please stop.

Oh, my God, he's still going. Still going. What's it like hearing him in your helmet? It's a lot. No, it's a whole lot of fun. No talkback button, though. Yeah, no talkback. Sometimes I wish I had one.

What would you say? Yeah, I got it. We're good. He did have it. In Stafford's first season in L.A., the Rams made the Super Bowl. All right, I believe it. You know, four of the most powerful words that you can say are I believe in you. He means it.

In the days before the Super Bowl, the Rams practiced a complicated play, the Jet Sweep. It didn't work. Before the game, Stafford gathered teammates to rehearse and refine the play and told McVeigh he could trust the team to execute it. And the Rams now have a fourth and one, and here comes a huge call by McVe. Fourth down, Super Bowl on the line. McVeigh didn't punt. His play call, the jet sweep.

Cup! He's going to get it. And more. What a gutsy call there by Sean McVey. The Rams drove down. scored and another first, McVeigh became the youngest head coach ever to win a Super Bowl. The joy was fleeting. The lies I told myself for once we went a Super Bowl, I'll be happy.

The lies you told yourself about winning a Super Bowl. And the lies I told myself where I won't be happy until we win one. Or I win one. And it was a lot more selfish and you're embarrassed to kind of look back on how you got to where you did. After the Super Bowl season, a losing season. How dark a place did you go to after that? It revealed a lot of insecurities that I had. My identity was so tied up in winning and losing games,

and that was where I felt like my self-worth lied. And it was very revealing of how fragile I was and all the insecurities that I did have. Unfulfilled by winning and devastated by losing, McVeigh considered stepping away for a career in broadcasting. I was ready to run away from coaching and hide behind a convenient narrative of some media opportunities. I'll never forget.

I was explaining to my wife, Veronica. It was a daunting task ahead for the 23 season. And I remember telling her, maybe I'll take a year off. And she said, that never sounded like the kind of leader you wanted to be. Those are tough words from your wife. You know, I think it was the wake-up call that I needed. You say run away from, which is different from pivot to or turn to. Yeah, I would have been quitting.

You know, that would have been the truth. I would have been quitting because I couldn't handle the losses. He didn't quit, and the Rams have made the playoffs every season since. 100th career win. Let's go. McVeigh won 100 games before turning 40, but he concedes that like a team early in a season, he too is a work in progress. Success is never linear.

You know, it's always up and down. I think that's one of the biggest things is the awareness of when those triggers, what are the things that you know, that you're being somebody or you're getting to a point you don't want to be and how quickly can you snap out of that? Okay, so you have those moments. All the time. I'm being someone I don't want to be right now. Yeah, I'm having one right now.

I mean, like, that's just the truth. Like, what I think is real about it is, is, you know, I feel bad that you guys are doing this incredible story. And, you know, and I'm not in a good place right now. I'm not happy with how practice went. Rams culture is demanding. Yes! Still, the league can't get enough of it. Boom!

Every Sunday, other teams mirror the Rams play designs. Every offseason, other teams raid McVeigh's staff. Seven of his assistants have been poached away to become NFL head coaches. Nate Schillhouse is likely next. He's accustomed to McVeigh's perfectionist ways, even at practice. You can tell he was pissed. Oh, yeah. Even with starters out, second day of training camp.

Yeah, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter who's out there. It's Matthew Stafford. It's a, you know, third string left guard. The standard is the standard. Head coach is pissed off. What's the staff and the players do?

Put your nose down and go to work. For the Rams, this kind of bluntness for McVeigh is not just expected. It's an organizing principle. Within our locker and within our walls, right? We all want to be as close as we possibly can, and a lot of times that comes with vulnerability. Square vulnerability with big, tough, violent football. You know, there's so many false narratives out there about our sport and what it needs to be and what men need to be and all that. Being able to be close and open up with our head coach leading the way, it brings us closer as an organization as a team.

The quarterback also explained that McVeigh's youth and vitality help him connect. This shot of McVeigh and his wife this summer, made the rounds on social, and it seems, inside the Rams locker room. Have you seen the viral shot of the abs on the boat? Oh, yeah. Thoughts, sir. I mean, we all were like, we better hit the weight room because this guy's shredded. I mean, that's the guy I know.

He's putting the time and the effort in. Beyond McVeigh, the Rams success also hinges on its ownership, the Kronky family, willing as they are to spend on coaches and players and building. At $5 billion, the Rams SoFi Stadium is the world's most expensive sports venue. Ownership also invests in even the smallest edges. Military personality tests have helped GM-Less Sneed identify leaders. A basic equation guides him, character over talent. This guy didn't meet expectations. This guy did.

Down the hall from Sneed's old-school whiteboard, Nicole Blake leads the Rams' new high-tech drive into AI. The Stanford MBA says it could fundamentally change NFL coaching. Wide open is Colby Parkinson. Never mind McVeigh's prodigious memory, imagine the power of AI helping every team hack opposing defenses. You'll have significantly more patterns identified that the human eye would never catch. But pattern recognition is at the essence of winning football games. Yeah. From a game strategy perspective, that's the whole game. For now, football.

Ball is still, at its core, a game of people, of patterns of incremental gains. In Sneed's office, we noticed a statue of Sisyphus cast in his unending push to the top. It called to mine a coach straining ever upward against the rock of expectation. Nearly a decade in, suddenly the second longest-tenured coach in the NFL, Sean McVeigh has learned this. There's honor in the pushing itself. You're either in a storm, you're coming out of one. or you're getting ready to go back into it. And it's one of those three things,

but how you handle that is the separator. And so I want to be proud of who we've become in the midst of the journey. And here's what I will tell you, John, is I think that gives you the best chance to be the best team that tries to achieve the outcomes that we're hunting up on a weekly basis when we play those games.

I'm Ross Douthat, one of the new faces you'll see on 60 Minutes. We'll be chasing a lot of stories this season, but right now no story looms larger than the latest developments in artificial intelligence. An AI system solved a math problem in 88 hours that human beings had struggled with for almost 100 years. Other AI hacked into companies on their own.

And this past week, a researcher quit a major AI firm, warning that if artificial intelligence gets out of control, it could wipe out the human race. You don't have to believe that prophecy, but you should believe this. we may have a narrow window, this year, not the next 10, to make artificial intelligence safe for humanity. That clock is ticking, and so is ours. For almost 60 years, it has meant the same thing. Journalism you can trust. Where we're headed, we're going to need it. We'll see you next Sunday with another edition of 60 Minutes.