JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jaguars head coaching search entered its second week, and one big name is already off the board as the team continues to look for new leadership.
According to multiple reports and later confirmed by his agency, the Bears are hiring Detroit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, the No. 1 candidate on many head coaching wish lists.
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Johnson was one of the 10 candidates who the Jaguars interviewed since they fired Doug Pederson on Jan. 6. After news of Johnson’s hiring emerged, the Jaguars announced they had firmed up second interviews with three candidates — former Jets coach Robert Saleh, Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham and Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen. Those interviews will take place this week and be conducted in person.
Coen has been the betting favorite to become the next Jacksonville head coach.
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Johnson was one of the top head coaching candidates in the last three head coaching cycles, and gets a shot to work with last year’s No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams and first-round receiver Rome Odunze. Fans in Detroit were incensed with Johnson’s decision to leave for an in-division rival, branding him Benedict Johnson.
The last time Jacksonville was interviewing for its head coaching role was in 2022. It brought in three candidates for a second interview — Byron Leftwich, Matt Eberflus and Pederson.
Pederson was the first candidate who Shad Khan interviewed, and the Jaguars didn’t hire him for nearly a month after that first interview. Johnson has been the OC in Detroit for the last three years and has overseen one of the best offenses in the NFL.
He helped turn former No. 1 overall pick Jared Goff into an elite quarterback, and Jaguars fans were salivating at what Johnson could do with inconsistent former No. 1 pick Trevor Lawrence. Instead, Lawrence, who has a $275 million contract and missed eight games in 2024, will have someone other than Johnson leading the way. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
The last time Jacksonville went through a coaching search, it was one of nine vacancies. Three of the hot coordinator hires, Josh McDaniels (Raiders), Eberflus (Chicago) and Nathaniel Hackett (Broncos) were abysmal. Hackett was fired 15 games into his tenure. McDaniels was canned eight games into his second season. Eberflus was fired midway through the 2024 season.
Five of the teams that made hires in 2022 have moved on from coaches hired in that cycle. Another, the Giants’ Brian Daboll, is on thin ice in New York. The only two teams with successful coordinator hires in 2022 who remain employed with those teams are Minnesota’s Kevin O’Connell and Miami’s Mike McDaniel.
O’Connell had three years as an OC (one in Washington, two with the Rams) and McDaniel had just one season as an OC (San Francisco) before being hired.