Teryl Austin withdraws from Broncos coaching search

Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Teryl Austin had his second interview with the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday. Going into the interview, Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn was viewed as the favorite for the job, but the door wasn't completely closed on the possibility of Austin impressing the Falcons so much that he was offered the job.

As it stands right now, Austin is not the new head coach of the Falcons. The "right now" disclaimer is important, though, because Austin is no longer scheduled to interview with the Denver Broncos, according to Josina Anderson. Austin was originally set to meet with the Broncos on Friday, but that's no longer going to happen. Actually, Anderson reports that Austin has "withdrawn from consideration" for the Broncos job.

There are two ways to look at this news. The optimistic view from a Lions perspective is that Austin doesn't want to waste his time with Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak emerging as the clear frontrunner in Denver. Austin has already been through several interviews in recent weeks, and why speak with Denver if you know you're not going to get the job?

The pessimistic view is that Austin has withdrawn from the Broncos coaching search because he feels extremely confident about his chances of landing the Atlanta job. Nothing appears to be imminent in Atlanta with Quinn unavailable until Monday, but perhaps Austin has decided to put all of his energy into closing the deal with the Falcons.

In any case, one thing that is clear at this point is that Austin isn't going to be the Chicago Bears' new head coach. As speculation suggested from the second he left Denver, that job is going to former Broncos head coach John Fox.