With a potential HC candidate coming out next year like Ben Johnson, is it time to start talking about Pete “retiring” to just his executive VP role and us taking a shot at hiring Ben? Seems like the offense is what is holding us back at this point, and the Lions offense under Ben are getting way more done with arguably less overall talent. Our defense is young and getting better every year, but they aren’t the type that is going to single handedly be winning us games. We need a functional offense that can show up against the elite teams.
I love Pete and definitely want his presence still in the organization, but he isn’t getting any younger and it seems like now is the time to make a change with the very real prospect of drafting a QB next year.
Not having the rising QB is the point though… you want the new HC to hand pick their QB and develop them. Pete may have found a fountain of youth somewhere, but is it realistic to expect him to continue coaching through a rookie QB contract?
Sean McVay was unproven. Kyle Shanahan was unproven. The list goes on. At some point we’ll have to face the music and take a chance on finding a guy like that.