The race for Coach of the Year might be the most competitive of the season awards, and as we reach the final few weeks of the regular season, three coaches in their first year with their teams have really stood out.
Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen, Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson and New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel have all led their teams to surprising 10-plus-win seasons. The Bears improved to 11-4 with their thrilling win over the Green Bay Packers on Saturday, remaining in first place in the NFC North.
But the Jaguars and Patriots are also in first place in their respective divisions. Coen has the Jaguars at 10-4 ahead of Sunday’s matchup against the Broncos, while the Patriots sit at 11-3 before taking on the Baltimore Ravens.
Vrabel is the betting favorite to win Coach of the Year entering Sunday, holding +150 odds at DraftKings Sportsbook. Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald actually holds the second-best odds (+250), while Johnson sits in third (+350). Coen is still in the hunt (+1000), but San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan has better odds to win the award (+500) and Broncos head coach Sean Payton sits at +1000 to win Coach of the Year.
Still, there’s at least one member of the “NFL on FOX” crew who believes Coen should win Coach of the Year. Let’s take a look at who Charles Woodson and Julian Edelman believe should take home the award.
Bears, Patriots, or Jaguars: Who’s built for a playoff run? Who deserves Coach of the Year? 🤔
Charles Woodson: Liam Coen
Woodson’s thoughts: “Mike Vrabel, we’ve seen him in this capacity before. We’ve seen him take teams to the playoffs. So, I feel like we knew he was going to turn it around. Ben Johnson, a couple of years ago, he was the hottest name in the coaching game. So, you had a level of confidence he was going to be able to do his thing.
“Liam Coen, coming into the season, the Jacksonville Jaguars — who was excited about Jacksonville? Then, the press conference happens. We all heard it, and we thought, ‘Oh man, what a disaster.’ To come back from that press conference and have a team that nobody had confidence in coming into this season, I’ve gotta go with Liam Coen.”
Julian Edelman: Mike Vrabel
Edelman’s thoughts: “I’m not a homer, but it’s gotta be Mike Vrabel. You look at the teams before the season: The Chicago Bears last season spent a lot of money on the skill group. They’ve got a good skill group and then they buy the best offensive line you could buy with [Joe] Thuney, [Drew] Dalman and [Jonah] Jackson. You look at the Jaguars, Liam Coen inherits a quarterback that’s on his second contract that has one playoff win.
“You look at the Patriots preseason, a bunch of question marks around their skill group, a quarterback that had happy feet and a defense they spent money on, but didn’t know if they could play. So, if you looked at it before the season, the hardest job was the New England Patriots.”
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