Coaching Buzz: Lovie Smith Interviewing With Chargers

The Eagles interviewed Lovie Smith yesterday, but the former Bears coach has other suitors.

He’s headed to San Diego to meet with the Chargers about their vacancy, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. As we detailed earlier this week, Smith’s Bears teams made the playoffs three times in nine seasons. He had defense and special teams figured out, but failed to put together a top-level offense during his tenure there.

That will be the key question for Smith as he goes through the interview process: What went wrong offensively in Chicago, and how do you plan on fixing that if we hire you?

Smith will have interviewed with three different teams: the Eagles, Bills and Chargers. Buffalo, of course, has already filled its vacancy with Doug Marrone.

If Smith doesn’t get a head-coaching gig, he’d be a heavily-pursued target at defensive coordinator.

Here’s the rundown of Eagles interviews/planned interviews so far:

Coach	Position	Status
Jay Gruden	Bengals OC	Will Interview
Gus Bradley	Seahawks DC	Will Interview
Bruce Arians	Colts OC	Will Interview
Lovie Smith	Ex-Bears Coach	Has Interviewed
Mike Nolan	Falcons DC	Has Interviewed
Keith Armstrong	Falcons ST Coach	Has Interviewed
Mike McCoy	Broncos OC	Has Interviewed
Chip Kelly	Oregon HC	Has Interviewed
Bill O'Brien	Penn State HC	Has Interviewed

JIMMY JOHNSON BREAKING NEWS?

Fox analyst Jimmy  Johnson got people’s attention with this Tweet:

Looks like 2 of my guys getting NFL jobs..Chud Cleveland and my QB coach at U Trestman to Chicago

— Jimmy Johnson (@JimmyJohnson) January 11, 2013

We know about Rob Chudzinski, but if the Bears are ready to hire Montreal Alouettes coach Marc Trestman, that’d qualify as breaking news.

Perhaps Johnson has some inside information that no one else is privy to, but his Tweet has not been confirmed.

Follow Sheil Kapadia on Twitter and e-mail him at skapadia@phillymag.com.
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