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Ahead of the Detroit Lions' Thursday night matchup against the Green Bay Packers, NFL insider Albert Breer revealed more rumors surrounding Ben Johnson and his future endeavors as a potential head coach.
“Well, Ben Johnson's certainly gonna be at the top of a lot of lists, but the Lions' offensive coordinator is planning on taking a very different approach this hiring cycle than he has for the last couple,” Breer said. “He will not chase interviews. If he takes an interview, it's going to be with the intention of actually pursuing the job.
“To that end, he has a couple of criteria. Number one, he'll be looking for organizational alignment, in particular between the GM and the head coach. And then he'll be looking for recognition from the organization of the things that have gone wrong and willingness to fix them.”
And given the teams looking to move on from their current head coach— if they haven't already— they'll need to truly wow the offensive mastermind for him to consider interviewing with them.
One of the top teams hoping to hire Johnson is the Chicago Bears.
However, given his criteria, he might not want to move on from his current position to coach for a different team in the NFC North.
Lions OC Ben Johnson being picky with head coaching job
With one of his main criteria revolving around the organization having organizational alignment from the top down, the Bears might not check that list, especially with how the firing of Matt Eberflus went.
On top of that, it's not crystal clear who's running the Bears' head coaching search between team president Kevin Warren and general manager Ryan Poles. With that being somewhat of a mystery, Johnson could hold a lack of interest in their opening.
Now, this is all just a rumor, though Breer is one of the more connected NFL insiders, giving more credibility to his claims than others. That's especially true when Breer mentions anything to do with the Bears. His connection to the Bears appears strong, and when he reports anything with reference to the Bears, there seems to be an extra glimmer of truth and credibility.
Earlier this season, Breer reported that Johnson was interested in the possible job in Chicago, though it never opened up.
With Eberflus fired and the Bears' head coaching position seemingly open, it'll be interesting to see if Johnson considers that job to fit his criteria.
