Robert Kraft and the Patriots have a major decision on their hands.

After a rough first — and only — season under Jerod Mayo, Kraft elected to fire his former All-Pro linebacker turned head coach. This time around, New England is conducting a thorough coaching search.

On Thursday, the Patriots held an in-person interview with Mike Vrabel, who many believe is the frontrunner for the coaching job in New England. However, Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is also a highly viewed candidate, and he completed a virtual interview for the Patriots job on Friday.

According to The Athletic‘s Dianna Russini, that interview went “great.” Russini stated earlier that she believed the Patriots were seriously considering Johnson for the head coaching role.

Johnson is viewed as one of the top available coaching candidates and as of now, he’s only accepted interviews with the Patriots and Bears, a sign that he has genuine interest in the New England job.

Drake Maye is likely high on the list of reasons Johnson would be interested in venturing to Foxborough. Johnson is seen as an offensive mastermind, and has helped transform Detroit over the last few seasons. Jared Goff has also revitalized his career with Johnson as the Lions’ play caller.

Just prior to the virtual interview, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported that the Patriots are “open to being blown away” by Johnson in the interview process. If the interview did go as well as Russini indicated on social media, New England might have a difficult decision on its hands.

One other key aspect that looms large in this process is how long the Patriots are willing to wait to hire their next coach.

Mike Vrabel is receiving interest from other teams and could be enticed elsewhere if New England doesn’t move quickly to hire him. In contrast, Johnson wouldn’t be able to take the job formally, or even interview in person with the Patriots, anytime soon.

The NFL has strict rules about the interview process, particularly for coaches on playoff teams. If New England wants a follow-up with the Lions’ OC, they’ll essentially have to wait until Detroit is eliminated from the postseason. The only caveat would be if the Lions make the Super Bowl; in that case, Johnson could interview again during the bye week, but would be cut off from contact again in the week leading up to Super Bowl Sunday.

So the question remains: how long are the Krafts willing to wait before putting pen to paper with their future leader? If they feel strongly enough about Johnson, they could wait it out to make the hire. There would be some level of risk to that, though, as Johnson could turn down New England in favor of Chicago. At which point, the Patriots might miss out on both Vrabel and Johnson.

The Patriots currently have no other scheduled interviews for their head coach position, so now the time comes for the team to make a decision on its future.