Ken Whisenhunt Considered Top Candidate For Detroit Lions Coaching Job

Ken Whisenhunt may have just seen his season with the San Diego Chargers come to an end, but the hot offensive coordinator still has plenty of football action ahead of him.

Whisenhunt and the Chargers fell to the Denver Broncos in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs, ending San Diego’s hopes of a magical run to the Super Bowl. But for Whisenhunt, the action will now heat up as several teams are looking at him as a top candidate to fill coaching vacancies.

This week the Tennessee Titans flew to California to interview Whisenhunt, who also met with officials from the Detroit Lions earlier in the week. He reportedly had an interview with the Cleveland Browns as well.

Though Ken Whisenhunt has been quiet about where he would like to end up next year, league sources say that he is the frontrunner for the Detroit Lions job.

Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers said he understands why.

“I felt like when we hired him, I was like, ‘We’re not going to have him for long,’ ” said Rivers, the Chargers quarterback. “That’s just me. That was the feeling from before I first met him. Now, from being around him, I can see why guys would come after him.”

With all the work meeting with other teams, Whisenhunt made sure to keep his focus where it belonged this week — the Chargers matchup with the Denver Broncos.

“It’s a playoff game,” Whisenhunt said. “That’s where the focus has been. Anything outside of that has been secondary.”

Ken Whisenhunt has a strong background. After starting his coaching career as an assistant at Vanderbilt, he spent six seasons as head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, leading them to the franchise’s first Super Bowl appearance in 2009 and amassing a 45-51 record.

He was fired after the 2012 season, in which the Cardinals jumped out to a 4-0 start but went cold and finished the year only 5-11.

Now that the Charges are out of the playoffs, Ken Whisenhunt could be leading a new team within a matter of days.