CHICAGO — Lower than one week after being employed because the nineteenth head coach in Chicago Bears historical past, Ben Johnson has chosen his three coordinators.
In keeping with a league supply, the Bears are hiring Declan Doyle because the group’s offensive coordinator and Dennis Allen as defensive coordinator and retaining Richard Hightower as particular groups coordinator.
Doyle, 28, has coached tight ends with the Denver Broncos since 2023. He spent 4 seasons initially of his NFL teaching profession as an offensive assistant with the New Orleans Saints.
Johnson stated he’ll proceed to name offensive performs in Chicago after three seasons as Detroit’s offensive coordinator. He prioritized discovering a coach whose largest duty might be serving to him recreation plan for every week’s opponent.
“It’ll be essential for me to search out someone that may manage and construction and set the desk, significantly early within the week,” Johnson stated Wednesday at his introductory information convention. “I’ve been round numerous guys which have referred to as performs prior to now and I’ve seen the potential pitfalls that would come up as you are approaching the complete soccer group and you’ll’t get to watching as a lot tape early within the week as you presumably might.
“The offensive coordinator place goes to need to be someone that not solely I belief however might be extraordinarily element oriented, organized and structured to set the desk and likewise be keen to work late nights.”
Allen, who has by no means coached alongside Johnson, is a long-tenured member of the Saints teaching tree, which bred Lions coach Dan Campbell and former Detroit defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, now the New York Jets’ head coach.
Allen was instantly tabbed as the favourite to land the Bears’ defensive coordinator place after Johnson was employed.
Allen was with the Saints from 2006 till 2011, when he left to take the Broncos’ defensive coordinator job. He was employed as the top coach of the Raiders in 2012, then fired 4 video games into the 2014 season. He returned to the Saints as a senior defensive assistant earlier than taking up as defensive coordinator when Rob Ryan was fired. He was promoted to the top coach place in 2022 after Sean Payton stepped away, however was fired halfway by way of the 2024 season.
“I’ve by no means coached with Dennis,” Johnson stated Wednesday. “I’ve by no means met him. However, I’d inform you we confronted that protection a 12 months in the past when he was in New Orleans and gained numerous respect for it. I believe in every single place he has been alongside the way in which, they’ve been a high third-down group, a high pink zone group. So there are numerous pillars about what he does schematically that might be interesting to me. He has labored with Aaron Glenn, he has labored with Dan Campbell. Each communicate very extremely of him. So he is on the record. However there are a selection of actually good candidates.”
Hightower is getting into his fourth season because the Bears’ particular groups coordinator after starting his his second stint in Chicago in 2022. A veteran coach with 19 years of NFL expertise, Hightower grew to become the particular groups coordinator in San Francisco in 2017, a place he held by way of the 2021 season earlier than being employed in the identical function by the Bears 4 seasons in the past.
Final week, sources advised ESPN that the Bears wouldn’t retain a number of coaches from the 2024 employees, together with interim head coach/offensive coordinator Thomas Brown, quarterbacks coach Kerry Joseph, vast receivers coach Chris Beatty, offensive line coach Chris Morgan, working backs coach Chad Morton, defensive coordinator Eric Washington and cornerbacks coach Jon Hoke.
