We’ve hit the middle of the week. Happy Humpday. We’re at a point where we’ve dissected the Wild Card to death and aren’t ready to start looking at the Divisional Round. Oh, and Aaron Rodgers blabber about his future (or lack thereof) with the Packers. I can’t forget about that.
Which is the usual ebb and flow of the NFL season. The problem is, Week 9 doesn’t have nearly the excitement or adrenaline the playoffs do. So, now I’m kind of in limbo. We’ll start today’s bullets with some coaching news around the league.
We begin in the NFC North, where Ben Johnson will be staying put as the Lions’ OC. Johnson was one of the hotter names in the search for new head coaches. The Lions’ offensive coordinator had interviewed for two of the five openings (Colts, Texans) and had another today with Carolina.
Instead, Dan Campbell and the Lions get to hold on to Johnson for at least one more season. Johnson has been credited with helping Jared Goff to his best season as a passer. The Lions ranked fifth in total offense and scored 30-plus a franchise-best eight times this season.
The Patriots are making progress on their search for a new offensive coordinator. Tom Pelissero reports that New England will interview in-house candidate and tight ends coach Nick Caley today. Ian Rapoport also reports that the Patriots have requested to speak with Vikings’ wide receivers coach Keenan McCardell.
The #Patriots are interviewing their TE coach Nick Caley for their offensive coordinator job today, per source. Caley also interviewed for the #Jets OC job Tuesday. A valued young assistant.— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) January 18, 2023
The Patriots growing list of OC candidates includes former Texans head coach Bill O’Brien. O’Brien is the offensive coordinator at Alabama and previously served as New England’s offensive coordinator in 2011.
Elsewhere, Atlanta is interviewing former Broncos head coach and Bears DC Vic Fangio for their DC job today. After being fired by Denver last year, Fangio spent the 2022 season as a defensive consultant with the Eagles.
On the front office side of things, the Titans hired Ran Carthon as their next GM on Tuesday. Carthon is the son of former NFL running back Maurice Carthon and was most recently the 49ers’ Director of Player Personnel (2021-23).
Of course, yesterday was Tuesday, so Aaron Rodgers did his hit on “The Pat McAfee Show.” And, of course, there was a clip with cryptic mumbo jumbo from Rodgers about his future. Potentially. Maybe. As usual.
Basically, Rodgers said that he wouldn’t return to Green Bay if they were in a rebuild. Also, his return to Green Bay is contingent on whether or not he even wants to play in 2023, which he hasn’t decided. So, we know exactly what he knew before he was on the show yesterday. Cool. This should be a fun couple of months.
By the way, did you catch my write-up on the Chargers Wild Card meltdown yesterday afternoon? We discussed what went wrong for the Chargers, particularly Brandon Staley.
Brandon Staley's playoff debut went as poorly as imaginable. But why?
Play calling disparity, a lack of adjustments, poor discipline; we discuss every facet of the Chargers' epic meltdown.
New Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren spoke to the media at Halas Hall on Tuesday. Luis has you covered on the details there, but from what I’ve seen, it went really well:
Patrick grew up in Chicago's Bridgeport and Garfield Ridge neighborhoods before moving to the Western Suburbs of Chicago before eventually relocating to the Las Vegas area with his family in 2023. He started with Bleacher Nation in 2021 and has spent time as a Staff Writer and on the Chicago Blackhawks beat. He is currently a writer and editor at Bleacher Nation covering the Chicago Bears and the NFL at large and the author of the Bleacher Nation Newsletter. Patrick is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA).
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