The Raiders are the front runners to land Ben Johnson as their next head coach and, for some, that comes as a surprise considering the Chicago Bears were widely thought to be the team to beat for Johnson going into the hiring cycle.
The Bears will offer their next head coach a star quarterback and a roster that should be ready to compete for the playoffs with a few critiques in the offseason.
But for reasons that haven’t been reported in recent days, the Bears and Johnson apparently didn’t hit it off in the interview process. There has been no momentum on the idea of Johnson going to the Bears and podcast host Dan Patrick shared an explanation for that dynamic on Tuesday.
“I was told last night that [for] Ben Johnson, the Raiders make more sense because he doesn’t want to go against the Lions and Dan Campbell being in the same conference,” Patrick said on the Dan Patrick Show. “Whether that is true or not, I think also the allure of Tom Brady [was a factor], and Brady is making decisions with the Raiders. It feels like he is making the decisions with the Raiders.”
Maybe Johnson didn’t prefer to face his former team twice a year, but it seems like a stretch to think he didn’t take the job for that reason.
There is definitely more to what turned him off about Chicago.
As of Tuesday afternoon, no teams have been strongly linked to Johnson other than the Raiders. There have been interviews, but little feedback other than the fact that they happened.
That should be a good sign for the Raiders, who appear to be focused on Johnson as their top candidate to replace Antonio Pierce.
According to Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter, it could be a couple weeks before Brady and company announce the next head coach in Las Vegas, and that makes sense considering the season might not be over in Detroit for a few more weeks.
If for any reason the situation between Johnson and the Raiders falls part, look for the decision makers in Las Vegas to shift their focus to a coach nearly twice the age of Johnson.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vinny Bonsignore, there are “a lot of things lining up” for Johnson and the Raiders, but if Johnson doesn’t take the job, 73-year-old Pete Carroll will likely be the team’s no. 2 option.
x: @raidersbeat
I doubt he’s worried about facing his former team. He’s not cut out for job if he is worried