The new Bears head coach is coming along with hiring his new coaching staff. via Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune.
“Ben Johnson took a major step toward completing his coaching staff Sunday night.”
…The team is hiring Declan Doyle as offensive coordinator and Dennis Allen as defensive coordinator and is retaining special teams coordinator Richard Hightower, sources told the Tribune”.
The Bears officially announced all three hirings Tuesday.”
Doyle, 28, is believed to be the youngest offensive coordinator in the NFL. He will not call plays but is expected to manage a pivotal role as the Bears build an offense around quarterback Caleb Williams.”
I must say that this process has left me feeling concerned.
Most of the people who know me understand that my biggest problem with the previous coaching staff was the lack of quarterback coaching experience. Supporting Williams should have been the number one priority for the Bears last year. And to an extent they did that. There was plenty of talent around him. But the Bears failed to recognize that he would also need to be coached, hiring a former tight end with one year of quarterback coaching experience and allowing him to hire a quarterback coach with no years as a position coach in the NFL.
So you’d think that’s the one thing they would make sure they had with this hire, right? Then you’d apparently be wrong. Because arguably it’s worse:
Ben Johnson, head coach – 0 years as a quarterback position coach (3 years as an assistant quarterback coach)
Declan Doyle, offensive coordinator – 0 years as a quarterback coach and, indeed, only 2 years as an NFL position coach of any type
J.T. Barrett, quarterback coach – 0 years as an NFL position coach (2 years as an assistant quarterbacks coach)
So what the hell is going on?
I know what you are saying. Johnson will coach Williams. And I have little doubt that he can do that on a high level. But who is going to drill Williams on his footwork? Who is going to correct his throwing mechanics when his accuracy degrades late in the season, as it did in 2024? Johnson? Who has never actually been a quarterback coach? Who, even if he had been, has to be both the head coach and the offensive coordinator at the same time?
Why am I sitting here, pounding my head against the desk, and asking, “Who is going to coach the quarterback?” Again!
My answer is this: Ben Johnson wants this offense to be all about Ben Johnson.
Like most first-time head coaches, he’s a mixture of overconfidence and insecurity.
Johnson is positive that his way is the right way. That’s the overconfidence.
Johnson doesn’t want anyone to add creative tension by suggesting that anything be done differently. And he especially doesn’t want anyone with any kind of a strong voice getting between him and Caleb Williams. That’s the insecurity.
The modern NFL is about the quarterback. For the sake of the Bears, Johnson needed to hire someone with experience who could coach Williams. Instead, the coach who advised players to “get comfortable with being uncomfortable” is prioritizing his own comfort.
It might work out. We can hope it works out. But it’s a bad look.