Patriots coach Mike Vrabel took questions from the Boston-area media for 14 minutes Tuesday, lingering long enough to call on one reporter who apparently didn’t even have one, and the name Dianna Russini never came up.
Everything is mostly back to normal for Vrabel after weathering the offseason scandal of his personal relationship with Russini — a former national NFL reporter — and the Patriots stumbling out of the gate with two losses in their first three games. That’s unlikely to get more than a passing mention, if it comes up at all, on the broadcast when the Bears host the Patriots on Thursday.
Instead, the focus will be on the Patriots having won three games in a row and chasing a repeat trip to the Super Bowl, as well as the Bears shooting for the same destination now that starting quarterback Caleb Williams is back.
Winning covers up all sorts of issues, and Vrabel always has been a winner. After winning three Super Bowls with the Patriots as a player, he had a winning record and three playoff appearances as the Titans’ coach. That’s why the Bears were interested in him after firing Matt Eberflus in 2025.
Vrabel was, in fact, the first candidate they interviewed for the vacancy, and they spoke with Ben Johnson a few days later. One day after Johnson interviewed with the Bears, Vrabel accepted the Patriots’ job.
The two took on nearly identical rebuilds, and Vrabel has the early lead in the race to take their teams to the top. Johnson’s first season with the Bears was terrific, with the team improving by six victories and winning its first playoff game in 15 years. But Vrabel trumped it by taking the Patriots from 4-13 to 13-4 and a spot in the Super Bowl.
Each inherited a promising quarterback coming off a choppy rookie season, too. The Patriots’ Drake Maye was the No. 3 pick in the 2024 draft, two spots behind Williams. Both made major strides under their new coaches, and Maye led the NFL with a 113.5 passer rating last season en route to finishing as the runner-up in MVP voting.
Vrabel won Coach of the Year, and Johnson finished fourth. He also won the award in 2021 with the Titans, and Johnson shouted out Vrabel’s résumé unprompted at his news conference Tuesday.
They’ll go head-to-head Thursday with Johnson as the play-caller of a Bears offense that ranks fifth in the NFL, despite missing Williams for half the season so far because of a hamstring injury. Vrabel has shaped a Patriots defense that was eighth last season and ranks sixth now, though defensive coordinator Zak Kuhr calls the plays.
The exposure and fallout of Vrabel’s involvement with Russini threatened to unravel everything he had built in his first season coaching the Patriots. There were calls for him to lose his job — Russini essentially lost hers — and he stepped away from the team during the draft.
When the Patriots started 1-2, the tension rose. A radio host’s assertion of friction between Vrabel and Maye got so much attention they had to address it. Maye called Vrabel ‘‘one of the best football coaches I’ve had in my life,’’ and Vrabel said, ‘‘I wanted to coach here because Drake was the quarterback.’’
Maye threw three touchdown passes in a victory against the Bills a few days later.
Everything has smoothed out now, and the Patriots are back on track. They’re the best all-around team the Bears will have played to this point. And while the Bears are absolutely happy to have Johnson, there’s no question Vrabel is among the most challenging opponents he’ll face this season.
