The Way The Bizarre Season Redefined the Typical Coach of the Year Mould.

Typically, the National Football League's Coach of the Year honor adheres to a straightforward script. It often acts as a kind of apology. We regret we underestimated your franchise in our pre-campaign projections.

On paper, it's a clear-cut trajectory: the coach who oversaw the biggest improvement receives the prize. However, it sparks an yearly argument about preseason outlooks and whether we're truly honoring excellent coaching or merely the most shocking surprise.

However this year's competition is distinctly unique. The pool of contenders is remarkably strong. It has been the year of resurgences. The league has been unpredictable, with recent division champions falling away and longtime strugglers rising together. Under an normal year, a coach leading the his team to the summit of the conference would make him the overwhelming front-runner. But in this wild and thrilling season, he's up against several other exceptional coaches.

Below is how the projected vote could shake out.

5) Ben Johnson, His Team, Their Record

Voters for Coach of the Year selectors are fascinated by QBs. History shows this. A certain coach in 2017. Another in 2020. Brian Daboll in 2022. When you transform a franchise QB, you're well on your way home.

Ben Johnson hasn't just fixed Caleb Williams; he's freed him. Within an ideal environment, Williams has been afforded the chance to showcase his otherworldly talent. From Week 9, the Bears rank number four in offensive Expected Points Added per play. This isn't a brief surge – it's prolonged excellence. Under his guidance, the quarterback has become increasingly confident, far less reckless, and has eagerly submitted to the gameplan instead of improvising. It is an offense built entirely in the coach's image: a physical ground attack, a steady dose of play-action passes and a creative aerial game that creates wide receiver receivers consistently. The QB has thrived. And when easy reads haven't been there, he's been able to create magic from broken plays.

Johnson came to the Bears with a defined offensive vision. Almost each gamble – overhauling the trenches, featuring the pass-catchers, turning the QB into a timing-based thrower – has succeeded. This is rare for a rookie head coach. And it's even more uncommon still for a leader who entered the building with the immense pressure Johnson did. For consecutive straight offseasons, he was the top candidate on the coaching carousel. However when it comes to selecting a head coach, there are zero guarantees. Somehow, he has lived up to expectations – and even surpassed them. He's proven not just to be a offensive dork but the type of culture builder that can breathe new life into an organization.

In a typical year, Johnson would be the overwhelming favorite. Yet this is not a normal season!

The area where his candidacy runs slightly unstuck is on the defensive side. The Bears currently sit in the bottom third in defensive efficiency. They are relying on takeaways, and takeaways are famously unreliable. Coaches can stress creating turnovers, but no one can guarantee it. Johnson is on the list because the offense is legitimate. He's ranked lower because luck is doing an outsized share of the defensive heavy lifting. If not for a few bounces of the ball, the team would be two victories behind. It's been an exceptional turnaround, and the foundation is in place for sustained success. However Johnson comes up just short here.

4) Liam Coen, His Team, 12-4

Coen is in a similar situation to Johnson. He's a fellow first-time head coach who has masterminded a swift resurgence. During the stretch run of the year, he has Trevor Lawrence playing the most complete all-around ball of his professional life. And he's also overseen the overhaul of a defense that now ranks number five in the NFL in Expected Points Added per play.

What's more notably, Coen has nailed the leadership aspects, which was not a certainty after his early public appearances and some of his preseason decisions.

Coen walked into the Jaguars with an uncommonly raw coaching staff. Unlike Johnson, who surrounded themselves with the perfect coaching blend of youth and experience, Coen trusted first-timers. From the head coach on down to coordinators to position coaches, the Jags are filled with rookies. That kind of approach is intriguing on paper, but frequently collapses in reality – as past failures are a warning – because everyone is learning a their job on the fly. But Coen has pulled the entire group and all elements together.

Following an early strong beginning, there was a possibility that the campaign would veer off the rails. A midseason collapse caused the Jags wobbling once more. That's usually when coaches panic and change too much. He didn't. Rather, he simplified the approach. Jacksonville stopped chasing home-run plays and started seeking sustainable ones. The coach recentered the attack around his playmakers and the ground attack, and asked his QB to use his legs more.

The outcomes are obvious. The Jags have won multiple games consecutively and will be the AFC's No 3 seed. He receives the slightest knock in the standings because he took over a skilled team, but he has proven he can maximize that roster.

3) The Seattle Seahawks Coach, Seattle Seahawks, Their Record

Every Coach of the Year argument has a hinge moment. For the Seahawks coach, it was his QB decision.

Moving on from a veteran, bringing in a new quarterback and pairing him with an innovative play-caller could have derailed the campaign in October. Instead, it defined it. By the mid point of the season, the new QB was an MVP front-runner. He has cooled off since that hot streak, slipping to a lower rank in efficiency per dropback over the latter part of the season, putting him only a single place ahead of other QBs.

Still