Just like that hot assistants Mike Macdonald, Ben Johnson in play in Seahawks coach search
The Seahawks’ so-far slow-mo coaching search is accelerating.
The NFC and AFC championship games Sunday went the way Seattle needed them to in order for the team to interview two additional candidates for its head-coaching job.
They happen to be the NFL’s hottest young offensive and defensive coordinators.
Detroit blew a 24-7 lead in its 34-31 loss to the San Francisco 49ers Sunday. That means Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is free beginning Monday to interview with the Seahawks to potentially replace fired Pete Carroll.
Johnson is also in line to talk again to the Washington Commanders.
The Seahawks and Commanders have the league’s two remaining head-coaching vacancies.
A league source with knowledge of Seattle’s search told The News Tribune Seahawks general manager John Schneider was flying to Detroit Monday to interview the Lions’ 37-year-old play caller Monday night.
Schneider and his Seattle staff interviewed Johnson virtually Jan. 20 before the Lions’ divisional-playoff game. The Seahawks are expected to be in the Detroit area Monday evening to interview the 37-year-old offensive play caller.
Washington reportedly has made Johnson its top choice to replace fired Ron Rivera as the Commanders’ coach.
More to the point of what the Seahawks are trying to do — beat San Francisco — Schneider also can now talk to Mike Macdonald.
Baltimore’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday means the Ravens’ renowned defensive coordinator is available for the Seahawks to interview this week. That’s expected to happen Tuesday.
Seattle missed the NFL’s window to interview the top assistants for each conference’s number-one playoff seed during the week of first-round postseason games this month. That meant by league rules the Seahawks could not interview the 36-year-old Macdonald, even initially and remotely, until the Ravens’ season was over.
Now Baltimore is done. That’s despite Macdonald’s tricky, disguised defense holding Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs scoreless in the second half and to just 17 points Sunday.
Macdonald and the Seahawks are expected to talk in person this week. Macdonald is also scheduled to meet with the Commanders, perhaps as early as Monday.
So the weeks-long slow play Schneider and the Seahawks have had in their coaching search, partly throttled by the league’s interview rules, is over.
The time has arrived to talk to Macdonald, and to Johnson for a second time.
Seahawks interviews
Schneider had second interviews last week with Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka and Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham.
That put the Seahawks in compliance with the Rooney Rule, the league’s mandate that at least two in-person interviews for each team’s head-coach jobs be with minority candidates.
This is Schneider first head-coaching hire with top, final football authority in the NFL. The first-time GM was under executive vice president Carroll in Seattle’s football decisions from January 2010 until team chair Jody Allen sided with Schneider’s vision for the franchise and fired Carroll Jan. 10.
Schneider is deciding whether to hire the Seahawks’ first offensive-minded head coach since Mike Holmgren in 2008, or continue the Carroll model of the last 14 years. That is, with a defense-first head man.
Quinn was Seattle’s Super Bowl defensive coordinator in the 2013 and ‘14 seasons. Schneider was the team’s GM under Carroll when Quinn was Carroll’s top defensive coach. He knows Quinn as well or better than any NFL executive. That makes Quinn almost in the Seahawks’ back pocket, so to speak, if they want to hire him to replace Carroll.
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Quinn would fulfill what Schneider has said is one of the qualities he is prioritizing in his search for a new coach.
“(Maintaining) our culture, and how are we evolving,” Schneider said.
“Who’s going to help us move to the next level? How are we going to compete with everybody that we need to compete with and advance this organization moving forward?”
That latter point is what Macdonald has done that Quinn didn’t this season, and what Johnson failed to do Sunday.
Beat the 49ers.
Why have the Seahawks waited through second interviews with four other candidates to talk to Macdonald?
The worst part of the Seahawks for the last two seasons has been their defense. By far.
More important, last month Macdonald did what the Seahawks have failed to do for years. Macdonald’s schemes and players not only beat the Niners, they dominated San Francisco. The Ravens confused 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy. He threw four interceptions, two more than his previous career high. He had a completion rate of just 56.3%, the second-lowest of his career. Baltimore beat the NFC champions 33-19 in Santa Clara Christmas Night.
Seattle hasn’t beaten San Francisco by at least that many points since 2018.
The Seahawks have lost five consecutive games to their NFC West-rival 49ers the last two seasons. None of those five losses have been close.
Seattle isn’t going anywhere it wants to with a new coach without beating the 49ers to get out of the division, to get home playoff games again in Lumen Field.
The Seahawks have hosted just one home playoff game the last five years. They haven’t advanced past the second, divisional round of the postseason since the end of the 2014 season. That was Seattle’s last time in the Super Bowl.
Now it’s time for Schneider to learn about how Johnson and Macdonald envision beating San Francisco.
Learning new Seahawks ways
Schneider has said learning is his other priority in the Seahawks’ coaching search.
Quinn represents a lot of what Schneider and the team know.
Macdonald and Johnson represent new ideas for Schneider and the Seahawks to learn.
“We’re going to learn so much in this process about the ideas,” Schneider said Jan. 16. “I’m proud about all of the connections we have around the National Football League, and we’ve learned a lot already. To be able to understand what that looks like. Different opinions, different philosophies, open the door to different ideas. ...
“I think the learning, evolving, looking forward. Where is the game going? Fourteen years is a long time for one coach to be in a spot, and it’s been incredible. ...
“If you’re stagnant in this league, you’re behind. I think that’s probably the most intriguing thing, is to learn and be open minded. ...
“Maybe stagnant is not the best term. But, how are we learning? How are we going to crush this thing moving forward.”
This story was originally published January 29, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
