2026 NFL Honors: Patriots’ Mike Vrabel named Coach of the Year
SAN FRANCISCO – Mike Vrabel is preparing his New England Patriots to take on the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX, but the head coach will still bring back some hardware from Santa Clara. At Thursday’s NFL Honors, Vrabel was named coach of the year for the 2025 season after leading a stunning turnaround with New England.
What Vrabel was able to accomplish in year one with the Patriots was nothing short of remarkable. The franchise has had 4-13 consecutive seasons, which allowed the team to move on from Bill Belichick after the 2023 campaign and then fire Jerod Mayo after just one season in 2024.
Vrabel became the first head coach to inherit a team with 13 losses and win at least 13 games in his first year. So far, the Patriots have collected 17 wins in the first year of the Vrabel era (including the playoffs), which ties him with George Seifert for the most all-time. If he wins Super Bowl LX, he will single-handedly hold the record with 18.
|
2025 (Patriots) |
Mike Vrabel |
17 |
|
1989 (49ers) |
Georges Seifert |
17 |
|
2009 (Colts) |
Jim Caldwell |
16 |
Beyond that, New England won the AFC East for the first time since 2019 and is now on the verge of a Super Bowl appearance. If the Patriots beat the Seahawks in Super Bowl LX, Vrabel would become the fifth coach to win a Super Bowl in his first season on the job. He is also only the third person to win the Super Bowl as a player and coach for a franchise and the first to do so with the same team.
This is Vrabel’s second time winning this award, having first claimed it in 2021 while serving as head coach of the Tennessee Titans. This year, he beat out a field of finalists that included Liam Coen (Jaguars), Ben Johnson (Bears), Mike Macdonald (Seahawks) and Kyle Shanahan (49ers).
