When Robert Kraft made the shocking decision to move on from Bill Belichick after two decades, there was a clear frontrunner to be the Patriots' next head coach. The problem was that he was still serving that role for another team for at least a few days longer, and Kraft was hellbent on getting Belichick's successor in as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, that meant promoting Jerod Mayo, since it had been written in his contract during his extension the summer before, rather than holding off until they felt he was legitimately ready and going with who they really wanted: Mike Vrabel.