Ben Johnson is expected to leave the Lions for a secretive head coaching job

The offensive coordinator for the Lions, Ben Johnson, will once again be in high demand as a head coach prospect. He might really like a sneaky possible opening a lot.

Dan Campbell, the head coach of the Detroit Lions, knows that his current team won’t last forever. Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson will likely be asked to interview for head coaching jobs again. There’s no big surprise that Johnson will be picky about the jobs he looks at. In fact, he probably won’t even interview for a job after the season unless he really wants to take it.

If you want to know more about head coaching possibilities for 2025 and beyond, check out Connor Orr’s article in Sports Illustrated. He had another idea that wasn’t very new about which jobs Johnson might be most interested in.

“I also would not be surprised if Johnson wants an ideal setup with a good roster, a patient owner and a quarterback he can win with.”
“Connor Orr” from SI.com

“A good roster, a patient owner and a quarterback he can win with.” That sounds like a dream job, and the person in charge wouldn’t be changing after this season (or any season?).

Ben Johnson thought he would get a job as head coach, and that job may be on the verge of becoming open.

USA TODAY’s “For The Win” host Cory Woodruff recently tried to guess who would become the next head coach of 10 NFL teams. Yes, Johnson did get a job in the end, but not the one you might think.

Woodruff says that the Cincinnati Bengals will fire Zac Taylor and hire Johnson instead.

“Johnson’s job options on this list aren’t even close to what he could get in Cincinnati.” As long as the Bengals have Joe Burrow, they will be a top team to play for if they decide to let Taylor go. This summer, Johnson will likely have a lot of job options. Since the job in Cincinnati comes with Burrow, it would be hard for him to say no to it. It’s hard to win in the AFC, but Johnson could do it with this quarterback play. There’s a good chance Johnson will stay in Detroit for another season if the Bengals job doesn’t open up. Taylor would probably get a lot of offers to help teach offences as an assistant. Could he go back to the L.A. Rams?”

They lost to the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 11 and are now 4-7 on the season. This is their bye week. It’s likely that they need to win all of their games to make the playoffs. After the loss to the Chargers, the two best players on the team put more pressure on head coach Zac Taylor.

Taylor is under contract with the Bengals until 2026, and owner Mike Brown doesn’t like paying trainers to not work for him. Any choice about what to do with Taylor is weighed against the needs of a cheap owner, but only making the playoffs twice in six seasons (and five seasons with Joe Burrow) is not good enough for most teams. With the team they have now, Taylor should be fired if the Bengals lose more than 10 games this season.

No matter when Johnson leaves the Lions to become a head coach, he will have to have (or be able to get) a quarterback he can work with. That’s what the Bengals have in Burrow, and if the job in Cincinnati opens up, many people will want it.

A good team. A owner who waits. A good quarterback who can help him win. That’s all three of those teams, even though Brown’s patience comes from being cheap. If Johnson wants to be a head coach after the season, there may be a potential No. 1 job for him.