Who is the real NFL Coach of the Year? Debating between Mike Vrabel and Liam Coen, Ben Johnson and Mike Macdonald

Only three times in the last 10 seasons have The Sporting News and the Associated Press disagreed over the NFL Coach of the Year award. A close race starting in the 2025 regular season is likely to produce differences again.

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Mike Vrabel remains the consensus favorite for his first year as coach of the New England Patriots. Mike Macdonald has made his case with a solid second season for the Seattle Seahawks. Two rookie coaches, Liam Coen of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Ben Johnson of the Bears, round out the list of top candidates.

In any other year, what Kyle Shanahan has done with the injury-plagued 49ers or what Sean McVay continues to do to keep the Rams near the top of the league would generate more buzz. But there is no doubt that the novelty of these four coaches plays an important role in being the “finalists.”

Coach of the Year is subjective. The criteria are different for each voter, whether from the AP or their fellow NFL coaches surveyed by Sporting News. Some voters simply look to teams that have exceeded expectations. Other voters consider the rapid turnaround a team has undergone.

There are no real statistics for the Coach of the Year comparison, so it’s time to create a comparison matrix. Beyond wins and losses and where a team ranked offensively and defensively, improvement from last season and record in one-possession games are key. Let’s also take into account how much healthy talent a team had by looking at the core Pro Bowl selections on each roster.

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Now let’s go coach by coach to see who has the “best” case:

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NFL Coach of the Year Comparisons

Mike Vrabel, Patriots

Vrabel certainly has a solid resume, beyond being a big household name on a top team, which has greatly improved during Jerod Mayo’s one-year tenure. He’s had big winning years at Tennessee before, but with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels helping QB Drake Maye make a breakthrough in year two, the results have been special.

Mike Macdonald, Seahawks

Macdonald hinted at his coaching level when the Seahawks missed the NFC playoffs with a 10-7 record last season. He made a big move to revive the offense by replacing Ryan Grubb with Klint Kubiak. Having the best record in a difficult and very heavy NFC is an impressive feat. The team is incredibly complete and is a real threat to win Super Bowl 60.

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Liam Coen, Jaguars

Coen has done an incredible job turning Trevor Lawrence into a custom-built offense with plenty of balance, explosiveness, and weapons. They also help that offense with a snap defense led by Anthony Campanile. The Jaguars ended up playing in a much tougher division, finishing ahead of the defense-driven Texans and the offensively skilled Colts. They have become a complete team, often dominant after midseason, winning eight straight games.

Ben Johnson, Bears

Johnson finished with the fewest wins of this group, but restoring true championship hopes to the Bears is something special. Johnson has done well to set No. 1 overall pick quarterback Caleb Williams on the path to great things, just as Coen has done with Lawrence. The resume is strong here, except for that shaky overall defense that can be a problem in the playoffs.

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Who should be the NFL Coach of the Year?

Vrabel and Coen are the best stories here with their massive trades to strong playoff contenders after both teams were picked near the top of the 2025 NFL draft. Macdonald would win most years and has established that he will win a lot with Seattle for a long time. There’s definitely a natural East Coast bias here, with the Patriots marquee edging out the Jaguars.

Vrabel had two Pro Bowlers, MVP candidate Maye and cornerback Christian González. Because of the success the Jaguars had advancing Lawrence, their only Pro Bowler is their long snapper, Ross Matiscik. That the Seahawks have six (Sam Darnold, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, DeMarcus Lawrence, Leonard Williams, Devon Witherspoon, Rashid Shaheed) is more of a testament to the recent work of veteran general manager John Schneider.

It’s a shame that Coach of the Year can’t be determined by what happens in the playoffs, because that would help create some separation in the AFC for Vrabel vs. Coen and some separation in the NFC for Macdonald vs. Johnson.

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Looking at the entire regular season work, Vrabel He deserves to win as a narrow favorite over Coen.