Patriots coach Mike Vrabel downplays return to Tennessee 

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Mike Vrabel will take his new club to his old stomping grounds, with the New England Patriots visiting Tennessee on Sunday.

Vrabel spent six seasons in Nashville, going 54-45 as head coach, with three playoff appearances, and earned a Coach of the Year award in 2021. The Titans are fresh off firing Vrabel’s replacement, Brian Callahan, after 23 games.

Vrabel said earlier this week, before Callahan’s firing, that he’s approaching the contest as any other game.

“There is going to be, probably, a lot to be said about this,” Vrabel said on Monday via Boston.com. “I think it would be filed under the category of, is it interesting or important? I would probably say this would be very interesting, but in the end not very important to our preparation or what we need to continue to try to do to improve as a team.”

“…But, having spent six years there or seven years there, I think it will be nice to see some people that I haven’t seen in a few years that helped us win, players and staff. We’ve got a huge job we’ve got to do here as we try to prepare for them.”

Head coaches who faced a former team with which they previously won AP Coach of the Year are 9-5 against their old club team over the last 10 seasons, including playoffs, per NFL Research. Those head coaches are 5-1 when on the road against their former team.

The most recent iteration of what Vrabel is experiencing was Sean Payton’s return to New Orleans, where his Broncos whooped the Saints 33-10. Others: Lovie Smith (Houston) lost to Bears 23-20; Bruce Arians (Tampa Bay) beat Colts (38-31); Ron Rivera (Washington) beat Panthers 27-21; Andy Reid (Kansas City) beat Eagles 42-30; Arians (Arizona) beat Colts 16-13.

If we go back to 1970, head coaches are 219-185-1 (.542) in games against a team they used to coach, per NFL Research.

The Titans fired Vrabel in Jan. 2024 after back-to-back losing seasons. He spent 2024 as a consultant with the Browns before agreeing to lead the Patriots in Jan. 2025.

The 4-2 Pats, who took over the division lead, have had their best start since 2019 — started 8-0, finished 12-4, lost to Vrabel’s Titans in the Wild Card Round in Tom Brady‘s final season in New England.

The Patriots’ three-game winning streak is the club’s longest since Week 8-11, 2022.

Vrabel will look to extend it to a four-game streak by shellacking his former club, which continues to dwell in a chaos that started even before his own firing from Tennessee.

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