Black Monday has come and gone in the NFL at this point and this offseason looks to be one of those where there just aren't a lot of openings. More could come as playoff teams may decide to go for a fresh start, but at this point, we have five openings. Really it feels like four because the Saints seem to know what they want and Johnson isn't that.

So now it's time to look at those four openings and see if any of them qualify for what Lions offensive coordinator and hottest coaching candidate of the cycle Ben Johnson is looking for. 

By the way, here are the things he wants in a new team if he decides to leave: 

• Organizational alignment between the coach, GM, and owner.
• A recognition from the franchise of what went wrong in the past and their willingness to admit that and fix it.
• Patience
• Freedom

Ok, let's see where things layout. We'll start in Chicago. 

Bears

Organizational alignment between the coach, GM, and owner

This is a tough one because all the rumors you keep hearing are that Bears' GM Ryan Poles is trying to sway the Bears away from Johnson and would rather hire his friend and former teammate Brian Flores. So right off the bat, you have a GM who doesn't want to go this route. It seems like there's infighting almost immediately. Rumors can be just that. They don't always mean something, but it's not great that they're out there. 

A recognition from the franchise of what went wrong in the past and their willingness to admit that and fix it

This one is crucial. Bears fans will tell you all day that the Bears won't win anything until George McCaskey sells the team. Do you think this guy is willing to come in and say he's the problem, step aside completely, and let Johnson and the GM, who's rumored not to want Johnson there, run things?

Patience

Another crucial one. Johnson has repeatedly mentioned how the NFL hires coaches and then moves on from them almost immediately. The Bears are now looking for their third head coach since Johnson was first hired by the Lions in 2019. It seems like patience isn't a thing in Chicago.

Freedom

There's not really a whole lot of reason to think that Johnson wouldn't have freedom in Chicago. There are concerns that maybe he and Poles might butt heads and that could mess with Johnson getting the players he wants on the squad, but this isn't a Jerry Jones situation where the owner lords over the coaches. 

---

Jets

Organizational alignment between the coach, GM, and owner

This one could make things very interesting for Johnson because the Jets could sway Johnson by hiring a GM that he's worked with and they can work together to build the team they want to much like Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes have in Detroit. Then there's the problem of Jets owner Woody Johnson worrying about Madden ratings and that makes for a scary situation for just about any prospective GM or coach. 

A recognition from the franchise of what went wrong in the past and their willingness to admit that and fix it

There is nothing about Woody Johnson that makes me think he would ever sit down and talk about the things he was wrong about and then show a willingness to fix them. You do get the vibes that he might talk about the things that others did wrong though.

Patience

They can deny it all day long and they can do it as loud as they want, they fired their head coach because their quarterback didn't like him. They let an egomaniacal quarterback take over their entire franchise for two years and it backfired exactly how you expected to. This will be their fourth coach in the last 10 years. 

Freedom

As long as the Madden ratings are good, there's freedom there. 

---

Jaguars

Organizational alignment between the coach, GM, and owner

The Jaguars shockingly kept Trent Baalke on staff. They plan to hire a new head coach and that head coach will not answer to Baalke, he'll answer to Shad Khan. That is not organizational alignment, Next. 

A recognition from the franchise of what went wrong in the past and their willingness to admit that and fix it

The Jaguars are very clearly not doing this in front of our eyes. It was shocking they kept Baalke because everyone in the league and everyone watching the league knew this guy was a big problem for Jacksonville. They're keeping their problem.

Patience

The Jags are looking for their fifth head coach in the last 10 years. 

Freedom

There's not really any reason to think there's no freedom here, but it is still weird that the coach is not really working with the GM per-se. Anytime an owner wants the coach to answer directly to him, that just feels like the owner plans to be more involved than they should be. 

---

Patriots

Organizational alignment between the coach, GM, and owner

Here's the one right here. The Patriots have a great owner and a great GM. Johnson could go to this team and know that he's going to have a support system there that they can couple with a lot of money and good draft picks. Elliot Wolf has long been one of the most highly touted execs in the league. This is organizational alignment at its best. 

A recognition from the franchise of what went wrong in the past and their willingness to admit that and fix it

I'd say the team is aware of what's gone wrong and they're working towards it. They knew Belichick stayed too long and they moved on. They hired Jerod Mayo as a favor and then moved on. It seems they're ready to get rid of any Belichick type thing and start over. That's why the Mike Vrabel stuff makes no sense. 

Patience

They're looking for their third head coach since the Clinton administration. I think they're going to be patient. 

Freedom 

They molded their entire franchise around what Belichick wanted for 20 plus years. It doesn't get more free than that. 

---

How the 2024 Lions offense measure up to preseason stat projections, did Jameson Williams beat his projection?

Last season we put out stat projections for players on the Lions' offense. The big claim to fame for us was that we absolutely nailed Amon-Ra St. Brown's projection.  We predicted ahead of the season that St. Brown would have 115 receptions for 1,516 yards and 10 touchdowns. He wound up with 119 receptions, 1,516 […]