Bear Digest

Bears Have the Ultimate Answer to Raiding of Their Coaching Staff

With Eric Bieniemy gone, Al Harris interviewing and others possibly moving around, the Bears have the solution in a head coach who has already proven he can assemble staffs.
Gene Chamberlain|
Ben Johnson addresses the media for the final time this season on Wednesday at Halas Hall
Ben Johnson addresses the media for the final time this season on Wednesday at Halas Hall | Chicago Bears On SI Photo: Chicago Bears video

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Chicago Bears

It would be a blow to the Bears defense in more ways than one to lose defensive backs Al Harris, first because he has been so instrumental in helping them get all their takeaways and then because one of the teams interested in him as a defensive coordinator is Green Bay.

The Washington Commanders also want to interview Harris, according to Brad Biggs of the Tribune and Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.

Then again, first-year defensive coordinators must contend with a great deal they didn't face as a position coach. Either way, the Bears are expecting to have some staff members go somewhere else whether it’s Harris or someone else,  and they already have.

The move of running backs coach Eric Bieniemy to Kansas City as offensive coordinator became official on Wednesday, so the Bears do have one opening.

"I see future head coaches on this staff, I see future coordinators," Bears coach Ben Johnson said. "I see these young coaches being future position coaches. I see that across the board. So, when you have success and you win games, normally that's what happens.

"I know we already have some slips coming through that other teams would like to interview some of our guys. And I'm all for it, man. 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. But a big part of what this collection of guys brought to the table was they all wanted to be here. You know, that was a big thing for me. I want guys that want to be here. So if a guy wants to continue to build upon what we started then, then I would love that as well. But this is a five-star staff and it's no surprise to me that we got a number of coaches that are garnering interest right now.”

Johnson raised a curious point Wednesday while addressing how the team goes about improving on offense beyond changing some personnel and players generally being more familiar with the offense.

“I think we did a number of really good things on offense, and yet we haven't even scratched the surface of what we're fully capable of yet,” Johnson said. “So, we will talk about that. We'll address that as a coaching staff. How can we get better? I think it always starts with me as the offensive play caller.

“There are some areas I can, and I need to shore up. The weekly process that we had, it always starts there. I think our guys are going to be a lot further along when they come back in the springtime.”


The weekly process was a point where Declan Doyle was greatly involved. It's been reported by CBS that the Bears are adding Will Lawing to the staff but no position was named.

It would be easy to see someone with Lawing's experience as an NFL tight ends  coach in Houston and college offensive coordinator at Boston College taking on some type of planning role like Johnson spoke about when he mentioned "the process."

Whoever they lose, and whoever they add to the staff, the bottom line is they'll have a head coach making staff changes who already put in place what Johnson himself referred to as a "five-star staff."

GM Ryan Poles seconded this thought on Johnson's impact in Year 1.

"It was incredible," Poles said. "I asked him the other day, his messaging to the team. It moves the team. They're locked in. They listen. They take it back to the locker room and to the field. The buy-in was incredible.

"I go back to training camp. He needed a physical day, in the dog days of camp, and that was a really cool opportunity to see those guys buy into what he was saying, do something really hard."

Johnson slipped in a full-contact practice from start to end and the players  loved it.

"In the moment, does it feel good? No," Poles said. "But, they believed, from his message, that it would help us down the road, and they went all out with it. You saw that go through the entire season."

Finding a replacement for Bieniemy, or if they lose Harris or Declan  Doyle for that matter, they can be confident they have someone who can find the right people because he's already done it.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.