The top-seeded Detroit Lions go into their divisional matchup Saturday night against the Commanders as nearly 10-point favorites. With Offensive Rookie of the Year frontrunner Jayden Daniels at quarterback, the Commanders are looking to pull the upset and get to the NFC Championship game for the first time since the 1991 season.
And if the Commanders can pull it off, the devastating loss for Detroit could very well set in motion a chain reaction that sees vacant coaching jobs filled more quickly than if the Lions return to the conference title game.
Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn are considered the top candidates this coaching cycle with six openings available. If the Lions win, teams wishing to talk with the men in person will have to wait until after the Jan. 26 NFC title game, per NFL rules.
But if the Lions lose Saturday night, Glenn and Johnson will be available to talk with teams in person beginning Monday, Jan. 20. That could lead to a mad dash by teams to get in front of either, or both, of the men in the most dramatic rose ceremony yet.
Johnson is a leading candidate for the Bears, Jaguars and Raiders, all teams he interviewed with virtually last week during Detroit’s bye week. Glenn took virtual interviews that same week with the Jets, Saints, Raiders, Jaguars and Bears.
These hires would make the coaching dominos fall in a way Mike Vrabel’s hire in New England did not. While Vrabel was a top candidate this cycle, it became clear very early in the process he was bound for New England. The Patriots made quick work of the move, making the hire official less than a week after firing Jerod Mayo while members of his family were still at the stadium following the regular-season finale.
The Dallas Cowboys could potentially also benefit from their NFC East rival getting the win Saturday. Because Jerry Jones took more than a week to decide he wasn’t continuing with Mike McCarthy, the Cowboys missed their window to interview playoff coaches with a bye week. Jones got his process underway within hours of parting ways with McCarthy, but any attempt at coaches with the Lions and Chiefs would have been too late due to NFL rules barring those coaches from interviewing during the divisional-round week.
The Cowboys interviewed former Dallas offensive coordinator Kellen Moore Friday afternoon, and they plan to interview Robert Saleh in-person on Saturday and Leslie Frazier in-person on Monday. Sources have cast doubt that either Glenn or Johnson would have interest in Dallas if the Cowboys called.
Sources at multiple teams tell CBS Sports they have tentatively scheduled a few in-person interviews for next week with the assumption the Lions win Saturday night. But an upset by Washington could adjust those plans for teams eyeing the men as favorites.
The league has worked in recent years to install processes that slow down hires across the NFL. It prohibits any in-person interviews for coaches on playoff teams until the conclusion of the divisional round. Once teams are eliminated from that point, teams can meet with those coaches in person.
The NFL bars teams from conducting initial interviews with playoff coaches following the divisional round, so if the Lions win, the Cowboys won’t be able to talk with Johnson or Glenn (if they wish) until the conclusion of the Lions’ season.
Coaches on the four winners of this weekend’s games will not be able to talk to teams in person or virtually at all ahead of the conference championship games. The league shuts down any interview talks ahead of those games.
Coaches on Super Bowl participants can only do interviews during the off-week ahead of the big game. Teams wishing to talk to those coaches must fly to the coaches or to a nearby city that’s agreed upon with the employer team.
Long story short, a Commanders win Saturday could set off fireworks in D.C. and then fireworks across the coaching landscape.
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Author: Jonathan Jones
January 18, 2025 | 8:10 am
