Why Patriots’ Mike Vrabel Shouldn’t Be Favorite To Win Coach Of Year

There’s not much to criticize about Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, but claiming he deserves the NFL Coach of the Year award might be stretching it a bit.

Currently, the Patriots have the best record in the NFL at 11-2. However, there’s another coach who’s doing an impressive job, and that’s Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson.

Johnson has led the Bears to the top of the NFC with an impressive 9-3 record. Both he and Vrabel stepped in to lead teams that managed only five wins or fewer last season.

Both head coaches are mentoring second-year quarterbacks whom their teams selected in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft: Caleb Williams for the Bears and Drake Maye for the Patriots.

There are many similarities between the two head coaches. Still, the significant difference is that Vrabel has prior NFL head-coaching experience, while this is Johnson’s first year as an NFL head coach.

Vrabel served as the head coach of the Tennessee Titans from 2018 to 2023, finishing with a record of 54 wins and 45 losses. During his tenure, he led the team to the playoffs three times, including a standout 2021 season when the Titans earned the No. 1 seed. That same year, the NFL honored him as Coach of the Year.

What Vrabel is accomplishing with New England is impressive, and he deserves full recognition. However, Johnson is performing as well as Vrabel, despite having less than a year of experience as a head coach.

Considering that Johnson is only in his first year as head coach, this should definitely be taken into account when voting for Coach of the Year. It’s important to note that the next month of the season could change the landscape entirely, especially as the Bears will face the Green Bay Packers twice and the Detroit Lions, who could be Super Bowl contenders.

If the Bears fail to make the playoffs, things could take a different turn. However, at this moment, Johnson should be recognized as Coach of the Year, with Vrabel not far behind in a close second.