With the search for a head coach in Detroit going on after Matt Patricia was fired, some vocal Michigan legislators are encouraging principal owner and chairwoman Sheila Ford Hamp to hire Robert Saleh, the defensive coordinator for the 49ers.

So, why are they so sure? Saleh is a defensive mastermind (Richard Sherman called him a leader of men). During his time in Jacksonville, he was loved by the guys in the locker room. He’s from Michigan. All of these make him very attractive as a head coach for Detroit.

But, as Ms. Hamp has indicated, the Lions are looking at all options, which most likely include Eric Bieniemy, the offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs.

Jim Caldwell, an offensive guy, was a winning coach for the Lions but was let go by Bob Quinn to make room for Patricia. Of all the Lions coaches from the past twenty years, five of them were defensive guys and only two were offensive: Caldwell and Steve Mariucci. Of the five defensive guys, the number with a winning percentage over .400? Zero.

That’s not to say Saleh wouldn’t be successful, but with Matt Stafford only being 32 and some good years of football ahead of him, he would benefit from an offensive minded coach, especially one like Bieniemy who has coached Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs high-powered offense. On the flip side, if Saleh is hired, he’ll need to find an excellent defensive coordinator as he shifts his focus to the offensive side of the ball. Saleh is also young and most of his career has been as a defensive quality control coach. He does have one invaluable quality, though. Players want to play for him and that could work magic in the Lions locker room, where desire to play hard for Matt Patricia was hard to find.

Eric Bieniemy comes with his own pluses. And mInuses. Besides his offensive role with the Chiefs is the fact that he’s been with Andy Reid for more than 7 years. Learning from Reid, who’s often called an offensive wiz, should help set Bieniemy up to do well.

With Bieniemy, though, there is the knock on him that he doesn’t actually do the play calling for the offense – that job lies with Andy Reid. Plus, with Patrick Mahomes being a generational quarterback, how much of the success of the Chiefs can be credited to Beiniemy?

As Bieniemy said, there are many successful head coaches who weren’t the play callers in their previous roles. So that isn’t necessarily a mark against him. He’s still had to be heavily involved and adept at knowing the offense inside and out. And he has Andy Reid’s confidence in him.

I guess we’ll see what Sheila Ford Hamp decides.

And as for legislators in Michigan, one was quoted as saying, “we decided why not throw out a helping hand and kind of guide them to the coach we’d like to see come home.” I think Ms. Hamp is entirely capable of making her own decisions and won’t be pushed into any choices.

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