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Ken Whisenhunt, shown addressing the media Thursday at the combine, says Matthew Stafford was not the reason he decided to head to Tennessee instead of Detroit. (AP Photo)

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Detroit Lions were widely believed to have Ken Whisenhunt atop their coaching wish list after they fired Jim Schwartz.

They interviewed him once in California, then gassed up a plane to fetch him after the Chargers' season ended in the playoffs. That plane, though, never took off.

Whisenhunt spurned the Lions, instead taking the vacant job in Tennessee.

The move puzzled some around the league because Whisenhunt's best head coaching days had come when he had an established pro-style quarterback (Kurt Warner) in Arizona. And the Lions have an established pro-style quarterback in Matthew Stafford.

But Stafford struggled badly last year -- his 19 interceptions and 58.5-percent completion percentages were personal lows since his rookie season -- and Whisenhunt's preference to hitch his wagon to Jake Locker instead caused some to wonder whether it was an indictment of Stafford.

Whisenhunt, though, says that was "absolutely not" that case.

"I have a lot of respect for Detroit, and (general manager Martin Mayhew) and I were teammates," he said Thursday morning during the NFL scouting combine at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. "It's a good organization, and I really liked what I saw in the quarterback.

"But once again, you got to understand, there's a lot going on in a short window. I feel very honored I was given an opportunity to interview with the Lions, but they're looking at different candidates as well. You don't have control over that situation. So when it all comes down to the end, I had an opportunity with Tennessee and felt good about that."

ESPN reported that Tennessee also offered about $1 million more per year, which if true could have helped sway Whisenhunt to the Titans.

But Lions president Tom Lewand also said Detroit had not made a final offer to Whisenhunt. So it's possible that such a gap could have closed had Whisenhunt made that trip to the Motor City.

Detroit hired Jim Caldwell a day after Whisenhunt made his decision, and he is set to speak to reporters in Indianapolis -- site of his only NFL head coaching job -- at noon Thursday.