Mike Vrabel's midseason visit to Foxboro apparently didn't sit well with the Tennessee Titans' leadership, who fired him as head coach on Tuesday after six straight losing seasons.
Vrabel, who spent his bye week at the Patriots-Bills game on Oct. 22 in a bid to be inducted into the New England Hall of Fame, “raised some eyebrows” within the Titans organization and criticized his former team in a speech at Gillette Stadium. praised. According to Diana Russini and Joe Rexrode of The Athletic:.
That reportedly led to Vrabel's stunning firing.
The former linebacker has won three Super Bowls in eight seasons in New England and seems quite comfortable with team owner Robert Kraft, who gave him VIP treatment in a game the Patriots won 29-25. Ta.
“I don't want you to take this organization for granted,” Vrabel, 48, said in a speech at the halftime ceremony. “I've been to a lot of places and this is a special place with great leadership, great fans, great coaching and great coaching. Enjoy. You don't have situations like this everywhere.”
Vrabel was later asked if his comments were directed at the Titans organization.
“(The Patriots) have won six Super Bowls in 20 years. That's what I was hinting at,” he said. “I don't know what to say. It's just a huge success. … Considering how much success they had there, the overall message is, to me and the former players and everything, just It was about not taking things for granted.”
Vrabel's Patriots reunion reportedly didn't sit well with Titans owner Amy Adams Srank, but the two never talked about it and “she made it worse.”
Later, the Boston Globe reported. Kraft revealed in November that he considered Vrabel a “home run candidate” to replace Bill Belichick, who parted ways Thursday after the Patriots' disastrous 4-13 season.
Wednesday on NFL Network. Reported by Ian Rapoport Mr. Slank's decision to fire Vrabel involved another development, he said.
“This takes into account a lot of things, including what happened when Amy Adams Slunk went to New England for the Hall of Fame and never dispelled internal rumors that she was going to be the Patriots coach. That's the decision I made,” Rapoport said. He said.
The Athletic spoke to “more than a dozen prominent figures inside and outside the organization on condition of anonymity,” who said a combination of “poor communication, misinterpreted statements and misunderstandings” led to Vrabel's dismissal. .
Communication between Vrabel and Strunk reportedly deteriorated over time.
“Titans officials told The Athletic in November that the team's long-term plan is to retain Vrabel as coach,” Russini and Rexrode wrote.
“After Vrabel's firing, team officials said Storck had a strong belief in Vrabel at the time, and how she felt about Vrabel and how much she wanted him to coach the team.'' I said it was true because I wanted it to be clear for years to come. Strunk was unable to understand that Vrabel felt the same way, and communication between the two deteriorated from there. ”
The Titans ended the regular season with a 28-20 win over the Jaguars on Sunday, eliminating the Jaguars from the playoffs.
Vrabel, who was hired as the Titans' head coach in 2018, also said in his speech that he will use his talents to try to recreate the Patriot Way wherever he is.
“Everywhere I coach, and now Tennessee, obviously. But I'm trying to recreate that feeling in that locker room,” he said at New England from 2001 to 2008. I talked about my time there. “I don't know if we can accomplish that, but we're going to try every day. Nothing was more important than the team, so I'm going to try.”
Foxboro has a head coaching vacancy and Vrabel is considered one of the top candidates, so this should be an interesting offseason.
The Patriots parted ways with Belichick after 24 seasons and an unparalleled partnership that included six Super Bowl championships in nine games with retired quarterback Tom Brady.
