Darrell Bevell says Lions interview went well, waiting for process to finish

After a five-game streak as interim head coach of the Detroit Lions, Darrell Bevell interviewed the team for a chance to stay in the role full-time to move forward.

In an interview with Brett Favre on Sirius XM NFL Radio, Bevell said on Thursday that he feels good about the interview process with the team and is now waiting for the rest of his recruiting process and hopes for the best. .

“They’re just going through the process and they’re taking their time, that’s something they said they were going to do,” Bevell said, via Dave Birkett of Detroit Free Press. “It’s a little frustrating just the waiting time. It’s been over a week since you interviewed and you don’t get a lot of feedback, you don’t get a lot of information because they methodically go through this process. So it’s just a waiting game. I had the impression that the interview went very well. I was delighted to have this opportunity. I thought the team played well the last five games I was there and just hoped for the best.

The Lions appeared to play better down the home stretch with Bevell in charge after sacking head coach Matt Patricia in late November. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were strangled in Week 16 when Bevell was unable to coach due to COVID-19 protocols and Matthew Stafford missed the game due to injury. They beat the Chicago Bears, 34-30, in Game 1 after Bevell took over and lost close games to the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings.

Bevell said his interview with the Lions went virtually despite being in Detroit as a member of the coaching staff. The team leaders wanted to maintain the field level of the interview with the same parameters as during the research.

“You start off by telling them about yourself and then I really got a PowerPoint program about my thoughts on the program and how I want it to work and what I want it to look like,” Bevell said. “And I kind of got through that. As you’re done three hours later, there’s a conversation in the middle as they ask about some of the things you bring up. But it was a very good process. I thought they had done a thorough job with it.

In addition to Bevell, the Lions spoke with former Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis, Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, new New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh, coach- New Orleans Saints assistant chief / tight ends coach Dan Campbell, Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Arthur Smith and Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator Todd Bowles.