Quote:Believe me,  the NFL had nothing to do with what transpired today.   I'm 100 % sure that the NFL league office didn't have a strategy that determined which team Ken Whisenhunt would be the next Head Coach.

 

While there might have been other factors in Ken Whisenhunt landing in Tennessee instead of Detroit,  I think there were two major factors that led to the decision:

 

1.   The Lions have a huge investment in 4-3 Defensive personnel in the Front 7.    The transition to go to a 3-4 as the base Defense would likely not have been as smooth as the Lions Front Office prefers.    The Lions organization expects to win in 2014.    Whisenhunt has been associated with teams with a 3-4 base Defense for the last 14 seasons.   While Tennessee has used a 4-3 base Defense for a long time,   their short term expectations from a management/ ownership standpoint don't appear to be as great as the Lions short term expectations.    Tennessee's uncertainty at QB speaks for itself.   Hence,  Tennessee's brass very likely was onboard with Whisenhunt's plan to switch to a 3-4 base Defense.

 

2.   Ken Whisenhunt lived in Nashville for 2 years in the mid 1990's when he was on Vanderbilt's coaching staff.  Also,  he was born in Augusta, GA. and went to college in Atlanta  ( Ga. Tech).   Hence,  Whisenhunt could easily have looked at this is as great opportunity to come back to Nashville and the South.

 

My issue with the Lions organization regarding what transpired today isn't by itself losing Ken Whisenhunt.   It's the fact that the Lions only apparently interviewed 4 candidates:    Jim Caldwell,  Mike Munchak,  Gary Kubiak,  and Ken Whisenhunt.    Each had previous HC experience and have an Offensive Side of the ball background.   Why didn't the Lions set up an interview with Bengals Defensive Coordinator Mike Zimmer among others?    The scope of the HC search looks too narrow for my liking.   Not interviewing Greg Roman also is a mistake.   At least find out first hand if these coaches could potentially be good fits.

 

While I'm not sure what the validity of the rumor is,  there's a report that the Lions have interest in Seahawks Defensive Coordinator Dan Quinn.  That by itself would be good.   However,  if this is the case,  why didn't the Lions interview Quinn during wildcard week???   As a result of not interviewing Quinn at that time,   the Lions can't interview him until after the Seahawks season is over.   The Vikings and Browns have the option of asking for a 2nd interview with Quinn next week if the Seahawks advance to the Super Bowl because they interviewed him previously.

 

Of the 3 remaining candidates the Lions interviewed,  I prefer Jim Caldwell.   The biggest mistake the Lions could make in the process is hire Gary Kubiak.   At the very least,  Kubiak needs much more time to regroup,   when factoring in his health and the erratic decisions he made when the Texans season was going in flames.