FOXBORO, Mass. — It would have been so, so easy for Mike Vrabel to kick back in a rocking chair Monday afternoon, using his introductory news conference as the next head coach of the New England Patriots to tell stories about the good old days. Throw in a green screen of a roaring fire, drop in some audio of the End Zone Militia firing its muskets 10 times in recognition of Vrabel’s 10 career touchdown receptions as a member of the Patriots, and it would have had New England fans crying tears of nostalgic joy.
But Vrabel wasn’t selling any of that. Not only did he avoid dragging the Patriots’ three Super Bowl championships from his New England playing days into the discussion, the former linebacker/sometimes tight end clearly had drawn up a sophisticated defensive game plan for the occasion. And he used it whenever anyone threw a back-in-the-day question at him.
Mike Vrabel is ready to get to work with @Patriots QB Drake Maye. pic.twitter.com/HLqzlzKoVb
— NFL (@NFL) January 13, 2025
For instance, there was that question about Vrabel’s “special and unique relationship” with former Patriots coach Bill Belichick, and what it means to walk in the Hoodie’s footsteps.
“It is unique, obviously,” Vrabel said. “Let’s just be real for a minute and say, having played for him and competing against him, and also having a friendship with Bill, went a long way. I think it’s special, unique having played here, knowing Bill …”
Pause.
“But, again, we have to focus on things that are going to help us win now, help our players, galvanize the building and the team and our fan base,” Vrabel said, whisking everyone back to the work that needs to be done in Foxboro in 2025, as opposed to the work that was done in, oh, 2005 at Super Bowl XXXIX. (Patriots 24, Philadelphia Eagles 21, with Tom Brady throwing a 2-yard touchdown pass to Vrabel.)
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Everyone knows Vrabel and Belichick had a special relationship, because it was Belichick who took a guy who’d been a spare part during his early years with the Pittsburgh Steelers and transformed him into a vital piece of the Patriots defense. And everyone knows the relationship was unique, since it was Belichick who more or less said to Vrabel, “Hey, how ‘bout we use you in pass-catching situations now and then?”
But it’s not just that everyone knows this, but that Vrabel knows everyone knows it. So why, then, waste everyone’s time with a gauzy excursion down Memory Lane?
“The banners that hang in our stadium, they’re not going to help us win,” Vrabel said. “But I think they’re a reminder of what it takes to win.”
Let’s toss in a reminder of what does not win games: Introductory news conferences in which the newly minted coaches and managers try very hard to present themselves in such a way as to suggest great things are about to happen. But not Vrabel. Instead, his message focused on the work that’s to be done, not the work done by others many years ago. As part of that message, Vrabel made it clear he’s a worker in the trenches, not up in a tower barking orders through a bullhorn. And those three Super Bowl rings Vrabel owns? He wasn’t wearing any of them on Monday.
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If you’re old enough to have lived through the 1970s or have dabbled in post-Watergate history, you’re probably aware that Gerald Ford, upon assuming the presidency in the wake of Richard Nixon’s resignation, brought humility to the occasion when he famously said, “I’m a Ford, not a Lincoln.”
From Monday’s presser:
“I’m not Bill,” Vrabel said, referring to Belichick.
“I’m not Bill Cowher,” Vrabel said, referring to his long-ago coach on the Steelers.
“I’m not anyone other than me,” Vrabel said. “I’ve taken those experiences and I’ve tried to form what I believe is critical to the success of a football team and an organization.
“Our goals will be to win the AFC East, to host home playoff games and to compete for championships,” Vrabel continued. “And what the timeline is, just like we say with injuries, that we’re not going to put a timeline on an injury, we’re certainly not going to put a timeline on those goals.”
“I’ve stayed in pretty close contact with Mike Vrabel and I have a ton of respect for him..
He’s a great football coach and I’m sure he’ll do a great job in New England” ~ Coach Belichick#PMSLive #NEPats pic.twitter.com/lRgr89trm2
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) January 13, 2025
In other words, the new coach of the Patriots not only avoids talking about the past, he also avoids talking about games and seasons that haven’t happened yet. One would need to be gifted with a talent for seeing the future to know when the Patriots will next win the AFC East, and Vrabel wasn’t wearing a championship clairvoyant ring on Monday. And telling stories about the good old days doesn’t make you a great coach. It just makes you somebody who sits around telling stories about the good old days.
All of which is to say Vrabel sounded an awful lot like Belichick on Monday. Sure, Belichick was quick to fall back on past Patriot successes much later in his career when doing so served his purposes, such as that time a couple of years ago when he said, “The last 25 years,” in response to a question about what Patriots fans had to be optimistic about for the 2023 season. That aside, Belichick was loathe to dredge up stories about past championship teams because those stories had nothing to do with the present day.
And so it is with Mike Vrabel and his lack of interest in talking about New England’s Super Bowl-winning teams from 2001, 2003 and 2004.
If he has any hope of connecting with the Patriots of 2025 and beyond, he can’t be the get-off-my-lawn guy.
“Time to get to work,” Vrabel said with his final words at Monday’s news conference. And off he went, pointed toward an unknown future and untethered to a long, gone past.
(Photo of Mike Vrabel and owner Robert Kraft: Billie Weiss / Getty Images)
