Bears are losing a rising internal member of the organization for the second day in a row, but it’s a hard opportunity to pass up
Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Declan Doyle is headed to Baltimore.
Nearly 24 hours after the Chicago Bears lost assistant general manager Ian Cunningham (the right-hand man of general manager Ryan Poles) to the Atlanta Falcons, the Bears are losing another rising member of the organization in offensive coordinator Declan Doyle (the right-hand man for head coach Ben Johnson).
Doyle will be moving on to the Baltimore Ravens after one season working with the Bears in a lateral move as the team’s next offensive coordinator under new head coach Jesse Minter.
While it’s a lateral move title-wise, Doyle will get the opportunity to be the primary offensive play-caller for the first time in his coaching career with Minter calling the defense.
Once again, the Bears do right by one of their rising assistants
Just like with Cunningham and the Falcons, the Bears had the opportunity to block the Ravens request to interview Doyle for a lateral position. The Bears decided not to go that direction and allowed their rising assistant coach to seek out a better opportunity for his future career.
It’s something Johnson even welcomed the last time he spoke with reporters during his end-of-season press conference.
“I’m all for it, man,” Johnson said. “I want these guys to continue to ascend. Anything I can do to help them out, I think they all know I’m more than willing to do that.”
Getting the chance to call plays is the next step up for Doyle, with Johnson being the primary offensive play-caller in Chicago. The first team to show interest in giving that opportunity to Doyle was the Philadelphia Eagles. Doyle reportedly had a “highly impressive” interview with the Eagles before withdrawing his name from consideration. Hours later, the Ravens called with a similar opportunity, and it was one Doyle couldn’t refuse a second time, right when it seemed like the Bears had a shot to potentially have him back in 2026.
With the Ravens, Doyle now gets to call the offense that’s led by an MVP-caliber quarterback in Lamar Jackson with one of the best running backs in NFL history in Derrick Henry, not to mention a solid front office and a strong first-year head coach to work under.
The Ravens offense needed a legitimate spark this offseason after the organization parted ways with head coach John Harbaugh and decided not to retain offensive coordinator Todd Monken, who later was hired as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns.
There’s no better opportunity for Doyle to show what he can do leading a unit of his own and he has quite the offensive background after previously working under Sean Payton and working closely with Johnson this past season. He bring a nice blend of both systems to his new role in Baltimore.
As for the Bears, they’ll now be in the market for a new assistant general manager, offensive coordinator, and running backs coach going into the second season under Johnson.
Chicago Bears News
Ben Johnson is uniquely equipped with internal and external offensive coordinator candidates to replace Declan Doyle
The Chicago Bears now need to be looking for a new offensive coordinator.
Chicago Bears News
Bears GM Ryan Poles already as an easy candidate to take over as his right-hand man after losing Ian Cunningham to the Falcons
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