Jacksonville Jaguars Insider Podcast: Why Bears Could Hold Key to Jaguars HC Search

Chicago Bears On SI

What could the Chicago Bears job do to impact the chances of the Jacksonville Jaguars landing Ben Johnson?

Transcript

00:00Hello, and welcome to the Jacksonville Jaguars Insider Podcast.

00:07My name is John Shipley, and I'm your host and beat reporter, and I've been your beat

00:11reporter covering the Jacksonville Jaguars for Sports Illustrated every single day since

00:17August 2019, and we are continuing to march through the 2024 season.

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01:26Hello, hello everybody.

01:29Welcome to today's episode.

01:31Today we're going to talk a little bit about the Chicago Bears and how they might actually

01:35be the team that, to a large extent, controls the Jacksonville Jaguars' destiny in terms

01:41of their potential, and in my opinion, likely, head coaching search at the end of the 2024

01:49season.

01:50Of course, we need to preface this, as we always do.

01:55Jaguars head coach Doug Peterson is still in his position as head coach, is obviously

02:00going to remain there for the final three weeks of the season, and then you can expect

02:05some kind of decision by Jaguars owner Sha Khan.

02:08I am of the belief personally, and again, this is just my thinking, this isn't me reporting

02:16this, this isn't me sourcing this, but it's my personal belief that Jaguars head coach

02:22Doug Peterson will be fired at the end of the season.

02:27I have a few reasons, of course, for believing that.

02:30As I've said before, as you guys all know from listening and from reading my work at

02:35Jaguars on SI, I, again, personally think when it comes to Black Monday, in just a few

02:45weeks from now, that the Jaguars will make the decision on Doug Peterson, and will move

02:49on from him, and look for the next person who can cultivate Trevor Lawrence, and try

02:54to turn the Jaguars into a consistent winner.

02:59The obvious top name on the head coaching market entering next season has to be the

03:09short lines offensive coordinator, Ben Johnson.

03:11I can't even think of who would be number two at this point.

03:14A few guys can probably make a case, I personally am a big Liam Cohen fan, I think Brian Flores

03:19deserves another shot as well, Mike Rables up there, but otherwise, one thing I've been

03:29told by a few people at NFL Circles this year is that this year's coaching pool is not,

03:35in terms of candidates, is not as strong as some past years, it's looked at as one of

03:40the weaker coaching pools the NFL has seen in the last couple of years.

03:48Why people believe that is the case, a lot of people believe as a drop-off after Johnson

03:53that everybody else brings some red flags with them, Flores is obviously a top-tier

03:59coach but he had his entire situation with Tua and the Dolphins in the NFL, otherwise

04:09Liam Cohen is a really young up-and-comer, maybe there's not experience there for some.

04:17Mike Rables never had a 21st century offense in Tennessee, he made good offense coordinator

04:23hires but both of them, LaFleur and Arthur Smith, left to become head coaches elsewhere.

04:32So there are plenty of red flags around nearly every candidate this year, other than seemingly

04:38Johnson.

04:39Now, I don't think Johnson is a completely flawless coaching candidate either, I think

04:49with every single coaching candidate, you have to take the good and the bad.

04:56My personal belief with Johnson is that if you're looking for a red flag with him, it's

05:03that he can't take Pena Soul and David Montgomery and Jameer Gibbs and Amon Raw, St. Brown,

05:10with him to his next stop, otherwise I think he has a fairly unblemished track record,

05:18he's constructed one of the NFL's best offenses for three years running now, has helped, at

05:27least to me, whereby the entire idea of Jared Goff as a quarterback, and in a lot of ways

05:35I think he's the reason Jared Goff got the big money contract extension that he got.

05:41The reason all of this is brought up is because I firmly believe that when it comes to Ben

05:50Johnson, the two jobs on the table for him this year are the Chicago Bears and the Jacksonville

05:58Jaguars win slash if they fire Doug Peterson.

06:02I don't think he wants any part of the Saints job.

06:06He obviously, in my opinion, wouldn't even entertain the idea of the Jets job.

06:14I don't think, you know, looking at other potential jobs that could come open, I don't

06:23think he'd want to go to the Giants, I don't think he'd want to go to Las Vegas, I think

06:27for him it's Chicago or Jacksonville or back to Detroit.

06:33I am not sure which way he would lean, like say both Jacksonville and Chicago, you know,

06:38he's our guy and he's the covet and he's the hood they go after and he has to make a choice.

06:43I'm not sure which way he would go.

06:47I personally think there's a chance he would go Chicago, but we'll see what the structural

06:59organization of the Jaguars look like, looks like when the time comes.

07:04The reason I bring all this stuff is I think if you take Chicago off the board, then did

07:11Jaguars become the destination for Ben Johnson?

07:14If he wants to become a head coach this year, which is, of course, no guarantee, you know,

07:18it's hard for anybody to turn down a head coaching job, but he's done it before he.

07:25Very well could do it again because there is zero sign that the short lines would slow

07:30down last year, I mean, next year.

07:37If the Bears look elsewhere from Johnson, I think Johnson would be the Jaguars next

07:45head coach.

07:46And the reason all of this comes up is, of course, Sports Illustrated insider and reporter

07:52Albert Greer spoke on ESPN Chicago this morning and he said he personally believes he isn't

08:01reporting this.

08:02This isn't to be run away with as an insider report or anything like that, but his personal

08:07belief is that Mike Rable will be at the top of the Bears wish list.

08:12And we've seen for a few weeks now, insiders claim that the Bears are going to be looking

08:19for a leader of men type head coach, which obviously would be a Mike Rable, a Brian Flores

08:25and Aaron Glenn type guy as.

08:32Much as Johnson is a qualified candidate.

08:36I'm not sure he's that coach, you know, he's the offensive brainiac, the offensive genius,

08:42the great play call.

08:43He is all those things.

08:47But he isn't in the same mold of a coach as Rable.

08:51And if that's the kind of coach Chicago Bears are looking for.

08:55And if Rable is their guy.

08:58Then I think that could create a huge domino effect, which could effectively help the Jaguars

09:03land one of the top head coaching candidates of the 21st century.

09:10You know, of the head coaching candidates we've seen in recent years, I haven't seen

09:16one with.

09:19As much buzz as Johnson since Chip Kelly and.

09:28I think if Chicago doesn't go to Johnson, if they, you know, don't just automatically

09:33want to bring the best offensive mind that they can bring in to help Kayla Williams,

09:37etc.

09:38If they go with Rable, then I think the Jaguars could be the biggest benefactors.

09:44Because I'm just you know, when you look at the open jobs and the jobs that might come

09:47open, none of them pop out as teams that Johnson would seemingly want to join after.

09:52I think it was Breyer who had to report weeks ago that he's going to be essentially interviewing

09:56teams and he wants them to have a clear structure between the head coach and GM and he wants

10:02them to understand the mistakes they've made in the past.

10:06That doesn't sound like.

10:09Any other team on the market, so if the Chicago Bears will truly look to Mike Rable to potentially

10:16be their next head coach, the Jackson Jaguars could come out of that situation as big, big

10:21winners.

10:22Thank you guys as always for joining me.

10:24My name is John Shipley and I'll be back next time.

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