Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson has already lost one of his top assistant coaches to the 2026 NFL hiring cycle and could lose another one amid interest from another NFC playoff team in one of the rising stars of his coaching staff.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Philadelphia Eagles requested permission to interview Bears first-year offensive coordinator Declan Doyle for the same position on head coach Nick Sirianni’s coaching staff for the 2026 season.
“[The] Eagles have requested to interview Bears offensive coordinator Declan Doyle for their offensive coordinator position,” Schefter wrote Thursday morning on X. “Doyle was hired last offseason as the NFL’s youngest offensive coordinator and he previously coached under Sean Payton in New Orleans and Denver.”
While Johnson calls the plays for the Bears offense, Doyle meaningfully contributed to Chicago’s offensive resurgence in 2025. The Bears finished among the top 10 offensive units in total yards (sixth), passing yards (10th), total yards (third) and points (sixth) and saw considerable growth out of starting quarterback Caleb Williams under Doyle.
The Eagles fired offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo last week following their season-ending loss to the San Francisco 49ers at home in the wild-card round of the playoffs. He spent just one season in the post but also called plays for the offense in 2025, which could attract Doyle to the post as he continues his fast rise through the coaching ranks.
Bears Already Lost Top Offensive Assistant to Chiefs
While Doyle could be the next one out the door, Johnson has already begun to pay the price for his team’s 2025 success in terms of losing some valuable coaching talent.
According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the Kansas City Chiefs are re-hiring Bears running backs coach Eric Bieniemy as their offensive coordinator for the 2026 season, bringing him back to the post he held from 2018 to 2022 as Matt Nagy’s replacement. The decision came just two days after the Chiefs requested to interview Bieniemy.
Bieniemy experienced turbulence after leaving the Chiefs the first time, flunking out as the Washington Commanders‘ offensive coordinator in 2023 before spending 2024 as the assistant head coach and OC at UCLA. With the Bears in 2025, though, he returned to his roots as a running backs coach and oversaw the league’s third-most efficient unit.
Under Bieniemy’s leadership, Bears veteran running back D’Andre Swift finished with career highs in rushing yards (1,087) and rushing touchdowns (nine) in 2025, while seventh-round rookie Kyle Monangai broke out with 783 yards and five touchdowns.
No reports have linked the Bears to any specific candidates to replace Bieniemy, but it is possible that Johnson will look to promote a current staff member to the post for 2026.
Bears Could Also Lose Key Front-Office Exec in 2026
The members of Johnson’s first-year coaching staff are not the only Bears that outside teams have targeted for their vacancies over the past few weeks of the 2026 hiring cycle.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Atlanta Falcons have requested to speak with Bears assistant general manager Ian Cunningham as part of their GM search. He already interviewed with the Falcons for their newly created President of Football role, a position that ultimately went to former Falcons MVP quarterback Matt Ryan.
The Bears have been bracing for the possibility of Cunningham’s departure, as he has received at least one interview in each of the last two NFL hiring cycles, but the reward of losing a key front-office executive may not come their way — thanks to a technicality.
Per Patrick Finley of The Chicago Sun-Times, the Bears would not receive the two third-round compensatory picks that teams typically receive for losing an executive to a GM job, as the Falcons’ leadership structure considers Ryan the primary decision-maker.
The Falcons have not yet made a decision about their GM opening, but Bears general manager Ryan Poles is close with Ryan and — per The Athletic’s Dianna Russini — has been helping him with the “entire hiring process,” which would seem to bode well for Cunningham’s ability to contend for the job.
Bears Get More Bad News as NFC Playoff Team Targets Rising Coach