Mike Vrabel inherited a Patriots team that had gone 4-13 in each of the two previous seasons and immediately turned them into a playoff caliber team, but he’s still not the best among this year’s NFL head coaching hires, according to ESPN’s latest rankings.

Chicago’s Ben Johnson took the top spot. The Bears (7-3) have won seven of their last eight after dropping the first two games of the season. They’ve been winning close games; Caleb Williams has five game-winning drives under his belt this season.

The expectation, ESPN’s Ben Solak wrote, was that Chicago’s offense would be complex and take time to install with the offensive line and run game needing a ton of work.

“On these benchmarks alone, Johnson has been a smashing success,” Solak wrote. “Chicago could be 2-8 right now, had all

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