Mike Vrabel, Pats’ coach and ex-LB, on verge of Super Bowl history

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Mike Vrabel will be in an exclusive club if he can steer the New England Patriots to a victory over the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX on Sunday. In fact, Vrabel will be the club's only member.

A New England win would make Vrabel the only person to win a Super Bowl as a player and as a head coach for the same franchise.

Vrabel, who won three Super Bowls with the Patriots as a linebacker, is in his first season as New England's head coach. Gary Kubiak is the only other person who reached the Super Bowl with the same team as both a coach and a player; he directed Denver to a 24-10 victory over Carolina in Super Bowl 50, but was winless in three trips to the Super Bowl as a player for the Broncos.

Tom Flores, Mike Ditka, Tony Dungy and Doug Pederson each won a Super Bowl as both a player and a head coach, but none did so with the same team.

To Vrabel, there are just as many similarities as there are obvious differences between playing and coaching in the Super Bowl.

"You have to be focused," he said. "You have to be locked in and be prepared, and be able to be in a state of mind to do your job and help the football team whether you're a player or you're a coach."

Vrabel is the eighth head coach in NFL history to reach the Super Bowl in his first season with a team. That group includes Kubiak, Jim Caldwell, Jon Gruden, Bill Callahan, George Seifert, Red Miller and Don McCafferty.

The Patriots went 4-13 in each of the last two seasons, but Vrabel guided them to a 14-3 record and an AFC East title in Year 1. That stellar regular season tied the largest single-season improvement by an NFL team (10 games), matching the feat accomplished by the 1999 Colts and 2008 Dolphins.

Adding New England's three playoff wins to the equation makes it the single greatest turnaround year over year in league history.

"(Vrabel's) just got a great sense of what's needed," Patriots center Garrett Bradbury said earlier this week. "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."

Vrabel was the Tennessee Titans' head coach from 2018 to 2023, but was fired after the 2023 season. He worked as a consultant with the Cleveland Browns last season.

"I would tell you that the thing I learned most about last year is that there's nothing that I want to do more than to coach this football team -- that's what I learned," Vrabel said. "Being around players is so critical and the connections that you make, and you can't lose sight of that. No matter how long you've been a head coach, finding a way to make connections with players is important."

The Patriots failed to qualify for the playoffs in four of the last five seasons before this Super Bowl run. A victory Sunday would earn New England its seventh Super Bowl title, which would break a tie with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the NFL record.

"I'm a little bit more reserved here in this role," Vrabel said. "A lot more to focus on I think, and think about. Make sure everybody's moving in the right direction, being where we're supposed to be. But it's certainly a unique feeling. I've always told our players to play as long as you can. Then you have to get a real job. There's nothing that beats playing in the National Football League, but this is pretty close."