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After five games as a Detroit Lions interim coach, Darrell Bevell interviewed the team for a chance to stay in the job full time.
In an interview with Brett Favre on Sirius XM NFL Radio, Bevell said on Thursday that he felt good about the interview process with the team and is now just waiting for the rest of the hiring process and hoping for the best.
“They are just going through the process and they are taking time, it is something they said they would do,” said Bevell, through Dave Birkett of Detroit Free Press. “The waiting time is a little frustrating. It’s been over a week since you interviewed and you don’t get much feedback, you don’t get a lot of information, as they are going through this process in a methodical way. So it’s just a waiting game. I thought the interview was very good. I was excited to have this opportunity. I thought the team played well in the last five games I was there and just hoping for the best. “
The Lions seemed to play better in the final stretch with Bevell in charge, after dismissing coach Matt Patricia in late November. The game was strangled by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 16, when Bevell was unable to train due to COVID-19 protocols and Matthew Stafford lost the game due to injury. The team beat the Chicago Bears 34-30 in the first game after Bevell took control and lost games played to the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings.
Bevell said his interview with the Lions was done virtually, despite his presence in Detroit as part of the technical team. The team leaders wanted to maintain the field level of the interview with the same parameters while working on the research.
“You start by telling them about you and then I actually have a PowerPoint program about my ideas about the program and how I want it to run and how I want it to be,” said Bevell. “And I was able to get through it. As you finish, about three hours later, there is a conversation in the middle as they ask questions about some of the things you are addressing. But it was a very good process. I thought they did a complete job with that. “
In addition to Bevell, the Lions spoke to former Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis, Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh, New Orleans Saints assistant coach, coach assistant Dan Campbell, Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Arthur Smith and Todd Bowles, defensive coordinator for Tampa Bay Buccaneers.