For the second straight year, the Lions faced the possibility of losing their top two coordinators to head coaching jobs. For the second straight year, both are staying put.
Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn will be back for another year after losing out on the NFL's final head coaching vacancy when the Commanders hired Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn on Thursday. Glenn, who also drew interviews with the Falcons, Chargers and Titans, was one of the finalists for the Commanders job, which at one point was rumored to be going to Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.
But Johnson opted to stay in Detroit to take another crack at winning the Super Bowl with Dan Campbell, just as he did last year when he was viewed as the leading candidate for the Panthers head coaching vacancy.
"My heart is in Detroit," Johnson told Amon-Ra St. Brown when he broke the news this week to the Lions' star receiver, adding that he has "unfinished business" after the Lions' 34-31 loss to the 49ers in the NFC title game in which they scored just seven points in the second half.
For Glenn, it marks the fourth straight offseason in which he's interviewed for head coaching jobs and missed out. He sat down with the Colts and the Cardinals last year, the Saints and Broncos the year before that, and the Jets in 2021 when he was still defensive backs coach in New Orleans.
Clearly the NFL sees head coaching potential in Glenn, voted by the players the No. 1 coordinator in a league-wide survey this season. The 51-year-old is a natural motivator and communicator as a longtime former player, and a smart tactician when he has pieces to work with.
Glenn has been dealt a short deck of cards in Detroit, but his defense showed marked improvement this season. It jumped from last in the NFL to 19th, and from 29th to second against the run despite returning mostly the same front seven. His time as a head coach will likely come, just not yet.
Glenn came to Detroit with Campbell. Along with Johnson, they'll run it back for at least one more season.