The old saying that defense wins championships has not been reflected by the head coaches who have led their teams to the Super Bowl in recent years. But Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald and Patriots coach Mike Vrabel are changing that.
Macdonald and Vrabel both coached defenses before they became head coaches, making them the first defensive-oriented head coaches to lead a team to the Super Bowl since Bill Belichick’s final Super Bowl with the Patriots, seven years ago.
The last six Super Bowls have featured Andy Reid five times, Kyle Shanahan twice, Nick Sirianni twice, Bruce Arians once, Sean McVay once and Zac Taylor once. All are offensive-oriented coaches.
The last time both Super Bowl head coaches came from a defensive background was in 2017, when Belichick and the Patriots came back from a 28-3 deficit to beat Dan Quinn’s Falcons in overtime.
