The Chicago Bears have made their first set of coaching hires under new head coach Ben Johnson as they continue preparing for the 2025 NFL season.
On Tuesday, the Bears announced a trio of hirings to Johnson’s first coaching staff: offensive coordinator Declan Doyle, defensive coordinator Dennis Allen and special teams coordinator Richard Hightower — who Chicago retained from its 2024 staff.
“Our coordinators are set,” the Bears wrote Tuesday on their official X account.
While Hightower is a familiar face, the Bears are adding a mixture of experience and youth to the staff with the hirings of the 58-year-old Allen and the 28-year-old Doyle. Allen has spent more than two decades coaching in the NFL, while Doyle — who took his first coaching job in college in 2016 — is much greener despite his league ascent.
Johnson has now filled his three most important positions on his first coaching staff roughly a week after the Bears introduced him as their new head coach on January 21.
Whether he made the right choices for the roles could have long-reaching implications on Johnson’s success as a first-time NFL head coach during the 2025 season, though.
Is Declan Doyle a Rising Star Among NFL Coaches?
Johnson’s first coaching hires are all noteworthy in their own right, but Doyle — seen as a rising star in the NFL coaching world — might be the most intriguing of the three.
Doyle becomes the Bears offensive coordinator with limited NFL coaching experience on his resume. He worked for three seasons as a student offensive assistant at Iowa from 2016 to 2018 before Sean Payton hired him in 2019 as offensive assistant on his New Orleans Saints staff. Doyle remained with the Saints for four seasons — including one year under Dennis Allen, who succeeded Payton as the head coach in 2022.
Payton then brought Doyle with him to the Denver Broncos when the Saints traded him during the 2023 offseason and handed him a promotion to Broncos tight end coach.
The fact that Payton has recognized something special in Doyle should speak volumes to his long-term potential as an NFL coach. It also stands to reason that Allen had good things to say about the 28-year-old assistant coach when the Bears interviewed him for the DC job, as Johnson would have likely asked about their prior working relationship.
Ben Johnson Has Reportedly Hired Several More Coaches
The Bears have only announced Johnson’s three coordinator hires, but there are at least a few more assistant coaches who have reportedly accepted jobs in Chicago for 2025.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Johnson is bringing one of his former Detroit Lions compatriots — wide receivers coach Antwaan Randle El — to work with the same position group in Chicago while also taking on the title of “assistant head coach.”
Meanwhile, The Chicago Tribune’s Brad Biggs has confirmed Johnson will also bring Lions assistant quarterbacks coach J.T. Barrett with him from the Lions, hiring him as the Bears’ new quarterbacks coach to work directly with quarterback Caleb Williams.
Johnson is also hiring Dallas Cowboys defensive backs coach Al Harris — a onetime Green Bay Packers star cornerback — to become the team’s new defensive pass game coordinator in addition to overseeing the defensive backs room, per Schefter.
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