Bears general manager Ryan Poles is wooing Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. So is Tom Brady, who owns 5% of the Raiders and has taken an active role in their head coaching search.
Only one of them, though, will have an open microphone and a captive audience Saturday night.
Brady, despite what for all the world looks like a conflict of interest, will be Fox’s color commentator when the Lions host the Commanders in their divisional round playoff game Saturday at Ford Field. That’s bad news for the Bears — and viewers.
If Johnson performs well as the play-caller for the NFL’s highest-scoring offense — and he should, given that the Lions are the largest favorite among the NFL’s four games — then Brady’s flattery could act as a commercial for Johnson and a not-so-subtle recruiting pitch to the coordinator, his agent and the NFL world that he should join the Raiders. Praise from the greatest quarterback of all time, shared for all of America to hear, is a powerful aphrodisiac.
And if Johnson struggles? Good luck getting Brady to rip him — it would hurt the Raiders’ pursuit of Johnson to become their next head coach.
Either outcome — Bloviate-gate or Obfuscate-gate — should be scandalous. An owner in the announcing booth shouldn’t be tolerated anywhere this side of professional wrestling. Fox, who is paying Brady $375 million over 10 years, is fine with it — after all, the Lions-Commanders game is the only one they’re broadcasting this weekend. So apparently is the NFL, who must have decided after throwing the book at Brady for deflated footballs — in a game played exactly 10 years ago Saturday — that he deserved a pass.
The NFL’s owners set up guardrails when Brady’s ownership bid was pending, and they continue today. Brady can’t watch practice, go to another team’s facility or participate in weekly production meeting interviews with the players and coaches he covers.
That doesn’t prevent all interactions, of course. In fact, Johnson told Lions reporters Wednesday that he’d only met Brady in person once: “for a second” on the field in Green Bay before Brady called the Packers-Lions game in Week 9. Asked whether he was allowed to talk to Brady before Saturday’s game, Johnson said he knew “nothing of that nature.”
Neither Fox nor the NFL responded to questions from the Sun-Times about whether they were concerned about a conflict of interest or were going to put any additional measures in place Saturday. Per NFL rules, teams that conducted virtual interviews with coaches who had a Round 1 playoff bye can’t interview them again until their team loses — or, if they advance to the Super Bowl, the week of Jan. 27. Coaches can’t sign a contract, or even agree to one, until their season is over.
If Brady chats with Johnson before the game, does that constitute contact?
As an announcer, how could Brady do his job properly if he didn’t?
The seven-time Super Bowl champion has become the most attractive part of a Raiders franchise that, under majority owner Mark Davis, has torn through four head coaches since moving to Las Vegas in 2020. Brady’s involvement in this year’s search helped secure a virtual interview with Johnson last week.
The Bears, Jaguars and Patriots interviewed him, too, though the Patriots quickly chose Mike Vrabel. The fact the Raiders fired general manager Tom Telesco — and would allow Johnson to at least have a say in his replacement — would give him the chance to align more closely with the front office.
The Bears haven’t offered such flexibility. Their 20-plus-candidate coaching search had no scheduled interviews Thursday after talking to former Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy and Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith on Wednesday. They’re expected to speak with Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken, a Wheaton native, on Friday — in advance of his much-anticipated playoff game in Buffalo on Sunday — and Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores and Packers offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich on Saturday.
The Bears’ most attractive asset is Caleb Williams, whom many across the league believe can be the franchise quarterback the team has longed for during most of its 105 years.
The Raiders don’t have a quarterback — they’ve started five different ones over the past two years. They do have the greatest quarterback of all time, though. He’ll be there Saturday to watch Johnson in person.