Bears must brace for an eventual ‘brain drain’ with Ben Johnson’s coaching staff, and one assistant is already being linked to a reunion
It’s going to be hard to retain everyone after this kind of season.
Few people around the league expected to see the kind of immediate turnaround the Chicago Bears have made in the first season under head coach Ben Johnson, inside the building is a different story.
The Bears have leaped out to a 9-4 start in 2025 and are knocking on the door of not only a playoff berth but a potential division title depending on how things go during the final four weeks of the regular season. Even despite the success and potential, the Bears have created a winning culture for the first time in a long time in Chicago and credit goes to Johnson and his entire coaching staff.
“I think we’ve grown as a staff,” Johnson told reporters on Wednesday. “They know what to expect now at this point. Our process early in the week, in terms of putting the gameplan together is efficient, and yet it can still get taken to another level. And we’ll do that, we’ll address that in the offseason on how we can get better.”
At the same time, teams around the league have paid close attention to the Bears and success comes with a price in this league. When it comes to assessing the staff during the offseason, Johnson and the Bears also need to be prepared for the eventual “brain drain” part of the process.
Team’s around the league can potentially look to poach assistants off the Bears’ staff and Chicago certainly has some deserving candidates. While defensive coordinator Dennis Allen is relatively safe, offensive coordinator Declan Doyle could explore the next stone up as a full-time play-caller elsewhere. Positional assistants such as Antwaan Randle-El, Press Taylor, and Al Harris could even be viewed highly as potential coordinators or even higher roles.
In the same realm of possibility, another name might start having some buzz looking ahead to the offseason depending on what happens with another specific team and their coaching staff.
Should the Bears be worried about potentially losing Eric Bieniemy to the Chiefs?
Earlier this week, my colleague Justin Churchill brought up how much the Kansas City Chiefs clearly miss former offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy amid their offensive struggles this season. After leaving Kansas City in 2022, Bieniemy had a one-year stint as the OC with the Washington Commanders and another one-year stint as the OC at UCLA before joining Johnson’s staff in Chicago as the team’s running back coach.
With the Chiefs, Bieniemy and head coach Andy Reid led one of the league’s most dangerous offenses in recent memory and it’s not just the success the unit had, Bieniemy had a great deal of respect from his players and fellow coaches because of his ability to lead.
“The Chiefs also miss Bieniemy because of his coaching style. He’s a motivator, and as former Chiefs wide receiver Gehrig Dieter tweeted out, he demands success. Bieniemy is a straight shooter, and that’s worked with Kansas City. (Matt) Nagy is the complete opposite and is much more reserved and laid back. The Chiefs can’t afford that coaching style right now.” – Churchill
Bieniemy has brought that same kind of coaching style to Chicago and it’s paid off in a massive way when looking at the success the Bears are having on the ground with D’Andre Swift and rookie Kyle Monangai.
“He coaches us hard, he demands a lot out of us, but he does it because he knows we can do it,” Monangai explained. “I think I respond to the way he coaches, and I just take everything he does and try to apply to my game and execute.”
For a reunion to be made possible in Kansas City, a lot of things need to happen first, starting with the Chiefs’ decision with current offensive coordinator and former Bears head coach Matt Nagy. And the Chiefs might not even have to be the ones to make that tough decision.
“The Matt Nagy-Titans connection is one that comes up in league circles, with the belief that Tennessee general manager Mike Borgonzi has a good relationship with Nagy from their Kansas City days. Nagy’s Chicago tenure has aged well, going 34-31 with Mitchell Trubisky at quarterback. The Chiefs’ struggles could affect Nagy’s chances. But I expect him to be a candidate in Tennessee.” – via ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler
All this to say, the Bears and Johnson need to start considering the potential of losing some valuable assistants and start planning out replacement plans. It’s an inevitable part of the league, and even more so when you have a winning culture other teams want so steal from. The great coaches in the NFL, such as Sean McVay, stay great by preparing in advance.
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