Before the Chicago Bears chose Ben Johnson as their next head coach, some members of the NFL community named the then-Detroit Lions offensive coordinator as the top available candidate for this year’s hiring cycle. 

However, 10 NFL executives and coaches polled by The Athletic’s Jeff Howe ultimately ranked Mike Vrabel of the New England Patriots as the best head-coaching hire of the winter. 

“[Vrabel has been a] successful head coach with bona fide leadership ability, which is underrated with the personalities in today’s game,” one unnamed executive told Howe. “He’s really organized situationally within the game. His personality fits the northeast, where they’re going to run the ball and play good defense. And he has a quarterback (in 2024 rookie Drake Maye).”

While Johnson received plenty of praise for helping signal-caller Jared Goff become a finalist for the 2024 regular-season Most Valuable Player Award, the 38-year-old has never served as a head coach. He and Pete Carroll of the Las Vegas Raiders tied for second in voting among the NFL insiders. 

“I’m still unclear on the fit,” one executive said about Johnson accepting the Chicago job in part so he could work with Caleb Williams, the first pick of the 2024 draft. “I just think [Johnson] is intrigued by the quarterback and his physical skill set.”

Meanwhile, Vrabel went 54-45 and became a one-time Associated Press Coach of the Year Award winner with the Tennessee Titans from 2018-23. He guided that club to one conference championship game appearance, and it’s believed he will bring the type of “hard coaching” the 2024 Patriots seemingly needed after team owner Robert Kraft showed living legend Bill Belichick the door last winter. 

Vrabel spent this past season serving as a consultant with the Cleveland Browns, and some assumed as far back as last spring that team owner Jimmy Haslam viewed Vrabel as an eventual replacement for Kevin Stefanski. The Browns stuck with Stefanski even though they finished the campaign at 3-14, but one wonders if Haslam will regret that decision if Stefanski endures another losing season while Vrabel thrives in New England.