Patriots' win over Jets makes Mike Vrabel just third NFL coach in 55 years to pull off this impressive feat

The New England Patriots are currently the hottest team in the NFL. Following their 27-14 win over the New York Jets on Thursday night, the Patriots (9-2) have now won eight straight games, which is the longest active winning streak in the league. 

It's a far cry from where the Patriots were at this point last season: 3-8 after 11 games. This year, they've already clinched a winning record, which means they're guaranteed to finish above .500 for the first time since 2021. 

The biggest difference is Mike Vrabel. After going 4-13 last season, the Patriots dumped Jerod Mayo after just one year so they could hire Vrabel, and the gamble has definitely paid off. With the win over the Jets, Vrabel became just the third coach since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970 to take over a team that won five games or less in the previous season and lead them on a winning streak of at least eight games in his first year on the job. 

Let's take a look at the three coaches who have pulled that off: 

Vrabel could tie Reid and Marchibroda for the longest winning streak if the Patriots pull off a victory in Week 12 over the Bengals. The Patriots' eight-game winning streak is the team's longest since 2019 when Tom Brady was still in New England. 

Vrabel did set one record with the win on Thursday, and that's the mark for best 11-game start (9-2) by a coach who inherited a team that lost 13 games or more in the previous season. 

Not only did the Patriots go 4-13 last year, but they also went 4-13 in 2023. With their 9-2 start, they're just the second team in NFL history to start a year 9-2 or better after consecutive seasons with 13 losses or more. The only other team to pull that off was the 1999 Indianapolis Colts. The Colts went 3-13 in 1997, which earned them the No. 1 overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft, and they used the pick on someone you might know: Peyton Manning. Although the Colts struggled to a 3-13 record during Manning's rookie year, they went 13-3 in 1999, which included a 9-2 start. 

Just like those Colts, the Patriots also have a quarterback (Drake Maye) who's in his second season. The 23-year-old has been playing football at an MVP level through 11 weeks. (Maye is in the midst of one of the greatest Year 2 leaps by a QB in NFL history, and we broke that down here.)

Grading NFL QBs on rookie deals: Drake Maye is acing the 2025 season while two others are flunking out

Mike Renner

If you look at Vrabel's track record as a head coach, he's had plenty of success, but he's never had a franchise QB. Despite that, he led the Titans to the playoffs three times during his six seasons, including an AFC title game appearance in 2019. He also led Tennessee to the No. 1 overall seed during a 2021 season where he was voted NFL Coach of the Year. 

How impressive was it for Vrabel to lead the Titans to the top seed that year? Since Patrick Mahomes' first year as a starter in 2018, only three coaches have led their team to a No. 1 overall seed in the AFC: Andy Reid (four times), John Harbaugh (two times) and Vrabel (once). Reid has had Mahomes. Harbaugh has had Lamar Jackson. Vrabel did it with Tannehill, who was out of the NFL just two years later. 

The reason that's worth mentioning is because Vrabel has the Patriots in the hunt for the No. 1 overall seed this year. According to our playoff projections, the Patriots are currently projected to get the top seed in the AFC, and a big reason for that is because they have the second-easiest remaining strength of schedule in the NFL. Over their final six games, they only play one team that currently has a winning record (Bills in Week 15). 

Vrabel has changed the culture in just one year, and his players seem to love playing for him. 

With a seasoned head coach, a franchise quarterback and a strong defense, the Patriots seem to have what it takes to play late into January this year and possibly into February.