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After enduring a year of Jerod Mayo, the New England Patriots appear to have found their successor at head coach for Bill Belichick in Mike Vrabel. In just 10 games, Vrabel has come in and completely flipped the script in New England, as the team is 8-2 so far in 2025.
Following up Belichick was always going to be a tough task for the Patriots’ next leader. Considering all the success he enjoyed with the team, Vrabel has some big shoes to fill, but so far, he’s done a great job.
Part of what made Belichick so great was his no-nonsense style of coaching. According to former Patriots defensive tackle Markus Kuhn, who spent time with the team during training camp in 2016, Belichick wouldn’t allow Kuhn and his fellow German teammate, Sebastian Vollmer, to speak their native language to each other at the team’s facility.
“Sebastian Vollmer … fellow German, was there. We were the only two Germans in the entire NFL, so we were happy about speaking a little bit of German while we were together,” Kuhn said on “Good Morning Football. “We were in the cafeteria at the Patriots facility, nobody else around us … so we obviously spoke in our mother tongue.
Bill Belichick walked by, and you can see he took a little double-take. He said, ‘Guys, English only. I want to hear what you guys are saying. And we were like, ‘Wait a minute, is he serious right now? Is he messing with us?’ I’m pretty sure he was serious.”
Belichick was notorious for running a tight ship in New England, and that has carried over to his new team, the North Carolina Tar Heels, in the world of college football. It may seem silly, but Belichick’s track record of success is tough to ignore.
Vrabel is looking to prove he’s a worthy successor for Belichick, and if he keeps on leading the team to wins at the rate he’s currently doing, he could very well achieve that goal. The Patriots will be back in action on Thursday Night Football in Week 11 for a matchup with the New York Jets.
