Published: Feb 10, 2022 at 10:18 PM
Original Content Writer
https://www.nfl.com/videos/mike-vrabel-wins-2021-ap-coach-of-the-year
The Tennessee Titans
overcame the loss of their most impactful player among a rash of injuries to
earn the No. 1 seed in the AFC last year, and now their coach has been honored
accordingly.
Mike Vrabel was named the
AP NFL Coach of the Year on Thursday during the 11th annual NFL Honors event.
He is the first coach in
Titans history to earn the award.
Vrabel drew 36 of the
nationwide panel's 50 votes, with Green Bay's Matt Fleur receiving eight votes.
Las Vegas interim coach Rich Bisaccia (three), Cincinnati's Zac Taylor (two)
and New England's Bill Belichick (one) also got votes.
Not surprisingly, the Titans rewarded Vrabel with
a contract extension earlier this week.
The Titans reached the Divisional Round of the playoffs, losing
a home game to the Cincinnati Bengals, 19-16, to finish the season at 12-6.
Nonetheless, it
was an especially impressive campaign for Vrabel, given that the club lost star
running back Derrick Henry for the second half of the season due to a
foot injury. Backup running back D'Onta Foreman filled in
effectively, and the Titans defense tightened as well.
Minus Henry, the club went 6-3 from Week 9 through the end of
the regular season despite averaging roughly 10 fewer points per game without
the two-time Pro Bowler. The strong finish allowed Tennessee to claim the top
seed in the AFC and earn a bye in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs.
But the injury issues went far deeper than Henry.
Skill-position players
missed a total of 112 games, including missed action for starting wide
receivers A.J. Brown and Julio Jones. By the end of the regular
season, the Titans had broken an NFL record with 91 players seeing action.
COVID-19-related unavailability contributed to that total as well -- something
every club in the league dealt with -- but it's worth noting that the clubs
which set the previous mark of 84, the 2019 Miami Dolphins and 2020 San
Francisco 49ers, finished 5-11 and 6-10, respectively.
Also noteworthy from Vrabel's fourth season in Tennessee was a
pair of overtime wins. The Titans opened the season 6-2, with victories over
the Seattle Seahawks and Indianapolis Colts requiring an extra period.
Vrabel, the former New
England Patriots linebacker, has yet to post a losing season in four years as
the Titans' coach. The club was 9-7 in each of his first two years, including an
AFC title game berth in 2019. Since then, Vrabel's teams have won back-to-back AFC South titles.