2026 NFL Honors: Patriots’ Mike Vrabel named Coach of the 12 months

SAN FRANCISCO — Mike Vrabel is getting ready his New England Patriots to play the Seattle Seahawks in Tremendous Bowl LX, however the head coach will convey some {hardware} again from Santa Clara regardless. At Thursday’s NFL Honors, Vrabel was named Coach of the 12 months for the 2025 season after spearheading an eye-popping turnaround with New England. 

What Vrabel was capable of accomplish in 12 months 1 with the Patriots was nothing wanting outstanding. The franchise had endured back-to-back 4-13 seasons, which resulted within the crew transferring on from Invoice Belichick after the 2023 marketing campaign after which firing Jerod Mayo after a lone season in 2024. 

Vrabel turned the primary head coach to inherit a 13-loss crew and win a minimum of 13 video games in his first yr. To this point, the Patriots have tallied 17 wins in 12 months 1 of the Vrabel period (together with playoffs), which ties him with George Seifert for essentially the most all time. If he wins Tremendous Bowl LX, he’d personal the report on his personal with 18. 

Past that, New England gained the AFC East for the primary time since 2019 and is now on the doorstep of a Tremendous Bowl look. If the Patriots defeat the Seahawks in Tremendous Bowl LX, Vrabel would turn into the fifth coach to win a Tremendous Bowl in his first season on the job. He is additionally simply the third particular person to win the Tremendous Bowl as a participant and coach for any franchise and the primary to take action with the identical crew. 

That is the second time Vrabel has gained the award, first claiming it in 2021 when he was head coach of the Tennessee Titans. This yr, he beat out a bunch of finalists consisting of Liam Coen (Jaguars), Ben Johnson (Bears), Mike Macdonald (Seahawks), and Kyle Shanahan (49ers).