The Patriots just showed us what it means to hire the right coach

Hours after the New England Patriots vanquished the Houston Texans last Sunday to advance to the AFC Championship Game, it seemed like old times at Gillette Stadium, where the giddy chatter was still bouncing off the cinder block walls in the tunnels underneath.

"It's not supposed to happen this fast!" one security guard said to another.

He's right. Teams aren't supposed to be able to miss the playoffs three seasons in a row, finish 4-13, change head coaches for a second straight year ... and then go 14-3 en route to the Super Bowl. And it's especially not supposed to happen this soon after the end of one of the great sports dynasties we've ever seen.

But the Patriots have done just that, clinching a trip to Super Bowl LX on Feb. 8 with a 10-7 win Sunday over the Denver Broncos. And a big part of the reason they've pulled off this turnaround is they got the head coach hire correct last January.

This offseason will see a staggering 10 of the NFL's 32 teams change head coaches, and a handful of those franchises are still working their way through the interview process, trying to figure out which coordinators will make good head coaches and which former head coaches will do better this time around. Mike Vrabel and the Patriots stand as a stark example of what it looks like when teams get this right. It seems Vrabel has pushed every correct button at every turn. Schematically, strategically, emotionally and motivationally, he has had the right idea for what to do in any given situation -- even as those situations get bigger and more intense.

"He's just got a great sense of what's needed," Patriots center Garrett Bradbury said recently when asked what makes Vrabel a successful head coach in a league that so often struggles to find them. "He played, obviously, and at a high level, so he knows the players' perspective. But he's not just strictly, like, 'player's coach' because there's never any doubt who's in charge. I think the way he's been all year has just prepared us all to meet this moment, because you can see the vision and the belief, and you know he has your back."

In the big picture, this wasn't really a quick or easy turnaround for the Patriots. There was the tough tail end of the Bill Belichick era, with Cam Newton and Mac Jones under center as New England watched Tom Brady go win the Super Bowl in his first year in Tampa Bay. In 2024, the Pats replaced Belichick with defensive coordinator Jerod Mayo and drafted Drake Maye with the third pick in the draft. Maye showed promise as a rookie, but the team went 4-13 for the second straight season and fired Mayo after only one year on the job. New England pivoted quickly to Vrabel, the former Titans head coach and former Patriots player who'd been inducted into the team's Ring of Honor months earlier and seemed like the perfect fit.

But it's one thing to seem like the perfect fit and quite another to do the job, especially on the level at which Vrabel has done it in Year 1. He built the right kind of infrastructure around Maye, including the return of Josh McDaniels to the organization as offensive coordinator to the addition of QBs coach Ashton Grant -- a young, up-and-coming coach with whom Vrabel crossed paths during his time as a consultant for the Cleveland Browns last season. New England also signed veteran receivers such as Stefon Diggs and Mack Hollins, and drafted running back TreVeyon Henderson in Round 2. All of that resulted in an MVP-caliber season from Maye.

As a former linebacker and a defensive-minded coach, Vrabel also helped overhaul the defense ahead of his first season. The team threw big money at defensive tackle Milton Williams in free agency and brought in edge rusher Harold Landry III, who played for Vrabel in Tennessee. Vrabel is a "walk-around" CEO-type head coach and doesn't call the defensive plays on game day, but he has been a stabilizing force on that side of the ball while defensive coordinator Terrell Williams has been away from the team battling cancer and Zak Kuhr has taken over the playcalling duties.

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The Patriots' Four H's: History, Heroes, Heartbreak and Hope

Coach Mike Vrabel asked players in a team meeting to share a story about their hometown, a hero, heartbreak, and hope.

More than any specific moves, though, it's the day-to-day, week-to-week aspect of Vrabel that has stood out since this special Patriots season started.

"He's continued to learn throughout his journey as head coach," said Patriots linebacker Robert Spillane, who played for Vrabel during his rookie season in Tennessee in 2018 (Vrabel's first year as a head coach) and signed as a free agent to play for him again this season in New England. "He's built up a résumé of scars from things he's been burned on and other things that maybe have worked out. But he's very consistent in his messaging. Details, technique and fundamentals are required on a weekly basis."

That's the foundation, and Vrabel spent the offseason laying it down. Before you can accomplish anything as a head coach, you have to make sure expectations are understood. The great ones find ways to do it without just preaching and giving orders. Vrabel's gift seems to lie in his ability to deliver his message in a way that connects with his players.

Examples? How much time do you have?

How about the "four H's," something Vrabel said he picked up while working with Kevin Stefanski's staff in Cleveland last season. He asked players in a team meeting to each identify a part of their history, one of their heroes, one example of a heartbreak and one moment of hope. Players have said throughout the season that the concept helped them open up to each other and connect on a deeper level.

"Those things help out for us whenever we get onto the field," Patriots cornerback Marcus Jones told ESPN's Mike Reiss last month. "Playing harder for your brother because you know what he's been through and you know how he's overcome those situations."

There were the individual player introductions before games -- something the Patriots hadn't done in more than two decades. Vrabel got the idea before one of the team's early home games this season, asked the players if they'd be up for it and then decided to do it (offense one week, defense the next, etc.). "Guys didn't really know what to do at first," tight end Hunter Henry recalled. "I think some guys tried to do something cool as they ran out, but it was new to all of us, so a lot of guys screwed it up the first time. But that was part of the fun."

There was also early-season handling of running back Rhamondre Stevenson and his fumble problems, which would have resulted in a benching in a lot of places. Yes, part of what kept Vrabel going back to Stevenson was necessity. Once Antonio Gibson tore an ACL, the only other real option at running back was Henderson, who was still getting acclimated to the NFL as a rookie. But Vrabel stressed publicly and privately that the Patriots were going to need Stevenson and that they had to help him through the problems rather than simply penalize him for them. As a result, New England has an extremely effective running back tandem at the most crucial time of the season. Vrabel got there by straddling the line between holding the backs accountable for their mistakes and supporting them through their struggles.

"Just told us our coach is going to have our backs, no matter what," Henry said.

Watching Vrabel on the sideline during a game, as I was able to do during the Patriots' Week 18 victory over the Miami Dolphins, is eye-opening. He went over to Henry to talk to him one-on-one after an offensive pass interference call. Vrabel took over the special teams huddle before an important Miami kickoff late in the first half. He celebrated with the defense after an interception. And of course, there are those postgame handshakes. Vrabel stands outside the locker room, greeting each player individually on their way in and congratulating them on strong performance. Or, as he did with Will Campbell after the rookie left tackle struggled in the divisional round victory over Houston, consoling them and telling them to keep their chins up.

"It's about authenticity," said Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair, who played for Vrabel in Tennessee and believes he's playing for a similarly effective head coach now in DeMeco Ryans. "Everybody knows the difference between someone who's in a position and someone who's a leader. You can be in a position of leadership and not be a great leader. You can be a great leader and not be put in a position to lead. But when you've got a great leader who's in a position of power, then there's no limit to what you can accomplish as an organization. The great teams I've been on, at the very highest level, everybody has a goal and there's no indecision, no discrepancy."

Authenticity is pretty easy to spot. Vrabel is not pretending about anything. He's not keeping secrets for secrets' sake. He's not imposing seriousness when it's better to be relaxed, nor is he flippant when the situation calls for earnestness. He knows he has a young team, he knows his players well, and he knows what they are and what they aren't.

Someone asked him at Friday's news conference if he tried to keep players from checking their phones ahead of a big game for fear of distraction, and he scoffed at the idea that such a thing would even be possible if he wanted to do it. You can tell he's having fun, and it's obvious from the Patriots' play that he has fostered a deep connection with this group of players.

"I just enjoy coaching these guys," Vrabel said. "You probably take it for granted, coaching and getting another opportunity, and I've told them that. And so, to do it with guys that are fun to be around and nobody takes themselves too seriously, they give it to me, I give it back to them and we try to get ready to go play a game. You go through a lot. Games are tight, they're close. There's good times, there's bad times. Every week is its own saga. So the closer you can become, the more it helps you get through the rigors of this league, as opposed to being independent contractors."

This season's Patriots were the fourth team in the Super Bowl era to reach the conference championship round in its head coach's first season after winning four or fewer games the previous year. And according to ESPN Research, they're the only team in NFL history to win 14 games with a first-year head coach after winning four or fewer just one season prior. It's a ridiculously quick turnaround the likes of which would be tough for any coach to replicate.

But in an offseason when almost one-third of the NFL's teams are looking for new head coaches, what Vrabel has done in his first year in New England is a shining example of what teams making changes are hoping to find. Not that it's easy. A front office can bring in a skilled coordinator and not know for sure if he's going to be a skilled head coach. Teams can bring in experienced head coaches and not know what they are going to do with their second or third chance. It's hard to put your finger on one thing and say that's what teams are looking for in a head coach, but you do know it when you see it.

And it's pretty clear at this point that the Patriots have it in Vrabel.