Mike Macdonald, Ben Johnson available for Seahawks head coach interviews

Two of the top assistants in the NFL can be interviewed by the Seahawks this week.

One of the side stories of Conference Championship weekend was how the results would impact the availability of two Seattle Seahawks head coaching candidates.

The Baltimore Ravens lost at home to the Kansas City Chiefs, paving the way for defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald to be available for interview starting this week. Seattle did not interview Macdonald during the Wild Card week window, which was shrunken a bit by the Seahawks not parting ways with Pete Carroll until Wednesday. It’s been reported that the Seahawks intended to interview Macdonald once Baltimore’s season ended.

Meanwhile, the Detroit Lions blew a 24-7 halftime lead and lost 34-31 to the San Francisco 49ers. Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson’s season is over. Unlike Macdonald, Seattle interviewed Ben Johnson already, so had the Lions won there would’ve been a bye week window for a second Johnson interview. Because Macdonald never had an initial interview with the Seahawks, Seattle couldn’t do a Super Bowl bye week interview with him.

If the Seahawks want one of those two as head coach, the opportunity is theirs. The Seahawks and Commanders are the only HC vacancies left, so by default Seattle has an opportunity to hire at least one of them. Macdonald is the sharp defensive mind, while Johnson is the rising star on offense.

We should see the coaching search heat up starting this week.