How Patriots Major Announcement Could Impact Lions Run at First Super Bowl Bid

On Sunday, the New England Patriots made a major announcement, naming ex-Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel as their new head coach. Vrabel played eight seasons of his 14-year playing career as a linebacker with the Patriots, playing an important role in bringing the franchise its first three Super Bowl championships. Vrabel had his only All-Pro season in 2007, the year the Patriots posted the only 16-0 regular season in NFL history.

The hiring of Vrabel brings to a conclusion, or so the Patriots hope, New England’s debacle at its head coaching job. The 49-year-old who was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers out of Ohio State in 1997 becomes the Patriots’ third head coach in three seasons, a fiasco that risked having an impact on several NFL franchises but none more directly than the Detroit Lions, a problem that the Patriots announcement that they have hired Vrabel could help resolve.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft fired legendary coach Bill Belichick in January, 2024, after Belichick presided over the Patriots for 24 years, leading them to a record six Super Bowl championships and nine appearances in the NFL’s title game.

Patriots Revolving Door in Head Coach’s Office

But Belichick’s Patriots limped to a 4-13 finish in 2023, their worst record since going 2-14 in 1992 before Kraft purchased the team. That dismal season sparked Kraft to bring down the axe and quickly replace Belichick with one of his assistants, another former linebacker who played all eight years of his NFL career in New England, Jerod Mayo.

That did not go well either. Under Mayo, the Patriots again slogged their way to a mere four wins in a season riddled with dysfunction that observers attributed at least in part to Mayo’s inexperience. Mayo had never even held a coordinator’s position, much less a head coaching job, before Kraft handed over the keys to his $7.4 billion asset, the Patriots.

So almost exactly one year after parting ways with Belichick, Kraft cut ties with Mayo as well. The move set off what appeared to be frantic search to find a new coach.

Along the way, the Patriots attempted to raid the Lions, seeking interviews with not just one but two of their top assistant coaches, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn — immediately placing the two sought-after coaches in a competition with each other at the same time the Lions must prepare for their divisional round playoff game against any one of four possible opponents, the Green Bay Packers, Washington Commanders, Minnesota Vikings or Los Angeles Rams.

Perhaps hoping to avoid any conflict with his Lions colleague, Glenn spurned the Patriots’ interview request. Johnson went through with his interview, conducted on Thursday via teleconference, and reportedly impressed Kraft and the Patriots’ brass who felt the interview went “great.”

Johnson, Glenn Job Prospects Pressure Lions to Win Now

Kraft hired Vrabel anyway, and in fairness, the Patriots were not the only team now pitting the Lions’ two top assistants against each other. The Chicago Bears also held interviews with both men over the weekend, Johnson on Saturday and Glenn on Sunday according to a CBS Sports report.

How the competition between the two may be playing out in the Lions’ coaching room can only be the subject of speculation, but rivalries with such high stakes rarely have positive outcomes. In the end, the Lions, who finished with a franchise-record 15-2 season, appear to be facing additional pressure to reach their first-ever Super Bowl.

According to NFL insider journalist Ian Rapoport, there is a “pretty good chance” both Glenn and Johnson will depart the Lions before next season anyway, to take head coaching jobs somewhere — though not with the Patriots after today’s Vrabel announcement — leaving the Lions to duplicate their historic season of 2024 under new management.