Sunday open thread: Who should be the Lions’ next head coach?

The deed has been done. After another set of embarrassing losses, the Detroit Lions and owner Sheila Ford Hamp cut ties with general manager Bob Quinn and head coach Matt Patricia. They now sit at 4-7 with no hope for a playoff run, but with interim coach Darrell Bevell now at the helm, maybe they can scrum up some wins and gain some confidence for the young players who might still be around next year.

With a clean slate, SFH has some work to do hiring a new front office. The last time they hired a consultant to help them pick out a GM, it turned out to be an unmitigated disaster. Will she simply try to create a carbon copy of an established team like they did with the New England Patriots, or will the team try to carve out its own path and make an exciting hire?

There are many exciting options for head coach to choose from and a lot of publications are already scrounging together their list of candidates for the Lions to choose from. Among those are Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy, Panthers OC Joe Brady, 49ers DC Robert Saleh, and many others.

Which leads us to today’s Question of the Day...

Who should the Lions pick as their next head coach?

My answer: Admittedly, I do not enjoy speculating on coaching hires because we always seem to be wrong in the end, and no one truly has any clue how these hires will pan out. But for the sake of discussion, I will give my two cents anyway.

The aforementioned options listed are a few that intrigue me. I think Bieniemy is an obvious name that many will want and I’d be perfectly fine with that choice—along with Saleh—but the name that intrigues me the most right now is Joe Brady.

As the Panthers OC, Brady has kept the team in a lot of close battles against some very good teams this year. They’ve scored 20 points in all but two games and they’re doing this with Teddy Bridgewater as their quarterback and their star running back on the sideline. Prior to his stint with Carolina, Brady served as the passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach for LSU, helping them establish one of the best offenses the program has ever seen.

The downside to hiring Brady is that he’s an inexperienced coach that’s only 31 years old, but we’ve seen this work before (i.e. Sean McVay). If you’d rather have a veteran coach with years and years of experience, then maybe Bieniemy is your guy.

Your turn.