Super Bowl 2026: How New England Patriots were rewarded for 'ruthless' Mike Vrabel hire with Super Bowl transformation

Mike Vrabel as New England Patriots head coach always felt a natural, perhaps inevitable fit. If not at first, then certainly eventually. 

Vrabel, who won three Super Bowls as a player with the Patriots, was appointed head coach this past offseason to replace the one-and-done Jerod Mayo, who had been promoted from his post as inside linebackers coach as a supposed long-term successor to Bill Belichick.