An affordable price of success: Bears lose Declan Doyle, without a sweat

My first and only reaction to the Bears losing offensive coordinator Declan Doyle to the Ravens is: Next!. That's the beauty of following the Andy Reid/Sean McVay/Kyle Shanahan template — hiring a superior offensive designer/play-caller as your head coach — as the Bears look like they've done with Ben Johnson: You don't have to sweat the loss of an offensive coordinator like Declan Doyle.

The Reids, McVays and Shanahans lose offensive coordinators all the time — Doug Pederson, Matt LaFleur, Mike McDaniel, Matt Nagy, Kevin O'Connell, Bobby Slowik, Eric Bieniemy, Liam Coen, Klint Kubiak — and just hire the next guy and keep right on going. And they almost always find the right guy to do whatever role offensive coordinators under play-calling head coaches fill. That's another beauty of hiring a guy like Ben Johnson — those guys usually have a keen insight into what makes a good offensive coach, and they don't miss very often.

After the rejuvenating 2018 season, the Bears lost defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, and the best defense the Bears have had maybe since the Ditka era was never the same. This isn't that. The Bears' strength is offense — they were sixth in the NFL in yards and ninth in points in 2025 with the 22nd-ranked passer in the NFL (one of only two teams in the top 10 in scoring that did not have a quarterback in the top 11 in passer rating. The sixth-ranked Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence, who was 20th, was the other.)

There's no doubt that Doyle was an important part of the process under Johnson. But he wasn't an irreplaceable part of the process. That's why Ben Johnson gets the big bucks. You don't pay a coach $12 million a year if one offensive assistant can make that much of a difference. The Bears paid up, and Doyle's promotion to a play-calling coordinators role was another reminder of the benefits that come with paying for quality. You wish him well, and call the next guy on your list.

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