If the Patriots win Super Bowl LX on Sunday, head coach Mike Vrabel will have turned his team around in his first year on the job like no other coach in NFL history.
Vrabel would be the fifth NFL head coach to win a Super Bowl in his first season on the job, but the other four all took over teams that were already close:
Broncos coach Gary Kubiak won it in 2015, but the team he took over was already among the favorites to win the Super Bowl. Denver had gone 12-4 the year before and was in the Super Bowl two years before under Kubiak’s predecessor, John Fox.
Buccaneers Jon Gruden won it in 2002, with a team that had made the playoffs the year before and was powered largely by a defense that had been built by his predecessor, Tony Dungy.
49ers coach George Seifert won it in 1989 with a team that had also won the Super Bowl the year before under Bill Walsh.
Colts coach Don McCafferty won it in 1970 with a team that had a winning record in 1969 and was in the Super Bowl in 1968 under McCafferty’s predecessor, Don Shula.
Vrabel is in a very different situation. The once-great Patriots had fallen off significantly before Vrabel arrived in 2025. They went 4-13 under Jerod Mayo in 2024, and also went 4-3 under Bill Belichick in 2023. It’s tempting to think of Vrabel as having inherited a great franchise because Belichick’s Patriots were one of the greatest dynasties in NFL history, but that dynasty was dead before Vrabel arrived.
The Patriots still have a big test ahead of them against the Seahawks in the Super Bowl. If they pass that test, Vrabel deserves to be recognized for having the greatest first season in NFL history.
