In the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs, the New England Patriots beat the Houston Texans by a score of 28-16 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
There’s been a lot of praise for head coach Mike Vrabel, who turned the Patriots from one of the worst teams to the best in only his first season with the organization. The success has a former Tennessee Titans player calling out the franchise for firing him a few years ago.
Former Titans Linebacker Comments on Mike Vrabel’s Success with Patriots
After the Patriots’ big win against the Texans, former Titans linebacker Will Compton took to social media to talk about Vrabel and New England. In his post, he said the following:
“Mike Vrabel winning the division & taking this team to the AFC Championship in his first year after the Patriots went 8-26 over the last two seasons is unreal.”
Not only was the team 8-26 over the past two seasons (under Jerrod Mayo and Bill Belichick), but this is the team’s first Divisional Round win and its first Conference Championship trip since the Patriots won the Super Bowl against the Los Angeles Rams in the 2018 season.
Compton also took time to throw the Titans under the bus for firing Vrabel, saying, “The Titans really f****d that up.”
Mike Vrabel winning the division & taking this team to the AFC Championship in his first year after the Patriots went 8-26 over the last two seasons is unreal
— Will Compton (@_willcompton) January 18, 2026
Compton is right, the Titans did mess that up. Vrabel spent six seasons with Tennessee before they fired him. Meanwhile, their head coach after him, Brian Callahan, only survived 23 games before getting fired, and Mike McCoy took over as the interim head coach.
During his time with the Titans, Vrabel coached the team to a regular-season record of 54-45, for a .545 win percentage. Furthermore, the team had a 2-3 postseason record under his reign. The team’s best run was during the 2019 playoffs when they beat the Patriots in the Wild Card round, the Baltimore Ravens in the Divisional Round, and lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Conference Championships.
Now, Vrabel is on his own path; meanwhile, the Titans are in the midst of a rebuild. This season, the Patriots ranked second in PFSN’s NFL Offensive Impact Metric with an impact score of 86.6 and a letter grade of B. Meanwhile, their defense ranks 12th in PFSN’s NFL Defensive Impact Metric with an impact score of 78.2 and a letter grade of C+.
While Vrabel prepares to compete for a Conference Championship and a Super Bowl, the Titans are still searching for a new head coach.
