Bear Digest

The Potential Minefield Ben Johnson Must Negotiate in Hiring New OC

Hiring offensive coordinator Declan Doyle as the 'Boy Wonder' type when the Bears' coach formed his staff but now it becomes tougher to do something similar.
Gene Chamberlain|
Ben Johnson has a delicate call with his hiring of the next offensive coordinator.
Ben Johnson has a delicate call with his hiring of the next offensive coordinator. | David Banks-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

There is an inherent danger facing Ben Johnson as he goes through the process of finding his 2026 offensive coordinator.

Finding offensive coordinator candidates to replace Declan Doyle at this late of a date in the coach hiring cycle probably won't be too difficult for the Bears.

No doubt Johnson has his own short list of potential candidates, especially after a season when it seemed people were seriously discussing Doyle's possible departure since possibly as early as late October.

Who would he seek is the issue.

After being hired at the end of last January, Johnson put in a phone call to John Morton, who had been hired and later fired from the Lions offensive coordinator job the current Bears head coach once held. Morton had also worked in Denver on Sean Payton's staff.

"He worked with Declan the last couple years and I asked him, 'How's Declan doing?' " Johnson recalled. "Is he ready to be a coordinator?' He said, 'Ben, listen, he's another Ben Johnson.'

"Which, I think that's a good thing. I'm banking on that good thing. Listen, I think he (Doyle) and I are a match made in heaven. He thinks very much like me."

What Johnson seeks in this OC

Johnson showed then what might be important in finding a replacement for Doyle, who took the Ravens offensive coordinator job so he could call plays. Johnson was looking for a young Ben Johnson.

That was then, and this is now.

If Johnson wants another young Ben Johnson clone as a replacement, he is blocked by a major obstacle. It's also the obstacle ahead if he goes a different route and simply starts interviewing top available candidates from around the league.

Johnson has friends and former co-workers around the league he could fall back on, and the popular name among the guessers is former Jets offensive coordinator and Lions passing game coordinator Tanner Engstrand. In fact, this seems like a slam dunk.

Engstrand was passing game coordinator for Johnson with the Lions. Engstrand was an actual play caller as an offensive coordinator with the Jets last year, the XFL's DC Defenders in 2020 and in College at San Diego.

He's not the only one with past Lions ties. There is also Lions QB coach Mark Brunell, the former great Jacksonville lefty QB. He was with the Lions as the quarterbacks coach with Johnson.

In both of those cases, the Bears couldn't go wrong with a hire. It's the same thing with another name being suggested by Detroit Lions On SI's Vito Chirco in an article about three Detroit Lions assistants Johnson could steal. The name is receivers coach/assistant head coach Scottie Montgomery, who has been on the staff since 2023.

However, there is a problem with all of this networking and the thought of a new Boy Wonder along the lines of Doyle.

When Johnson went out after his Boy Wonder on Payton's staff, he was just forming a staff himself. The Bears didn't have a meeting yet, a practice or a game. They've just gone through one of the most emotional and thrilling seasons in franchise history and emerged division champions.  They beat the cursed Huns from the north in back-to-back games, including the playoffs.

The staff melded together. There is a one-word phrase for it: loyalty.

Johnson has established a pecking order simply by having a staff for one season. How does he bring in a really young assistant now as a setup guy, a non-play caller as offensive coordinator, and bypass his own guys in the hierarchy for promotions?

  • He already has Press Taylor as passing game coordinator and he has offensive coordinator experience.
  • He has QB coach J.T. Barrett, who was under Brunell at Detroit and has helped greatly in Caleb Williams' development.
  • Maybe more than anyone, there is assistant head coach and receivers coach Antwaan Randle El. His energy excites the whole roster and not just the wide receivers.

Loyalty counts

How can you be fair to those coaches and bring in a young gun who suddenly lords over them when any of them could be qualified to do the coordinator job?

It wouldn't have been difficult if the young guy they brought in was someone like the Rams' Nate Scheelhaase, who has been interviewed for head coach jobs and offensive coordinator posts. It would have been very easy to introduce him as new Bears offensive coordinator because he has been on the staff of another offensive genius who just beat the Bears and their staff in the playoffs.

He has decided to stay in L.A. another year since no one has hired him to be head coach or play-calling offensive coordinator.

This is all a difficult matter to negotiate for a head coach. How do you reward loyalty while still bringing in a quality coordinator?

It's very easy to think of one way, and owner George McCaskey might not like. That's big-time bonus money for the staff for a great season. If you’re given big bonuses, no one gets their nose bent out of shape by an outsider coming on board ahead of them in the pecking order.

Hiring Engstrand might make it all easier than looking for a new Doyle, a Boy Wonder type who seems like a young Ben Johnson. Then again, he might not get the chance because the Eagles and Giants have been sniffing around Engstrand.

The former Detroit coaches on staff all know Engstrand and worked with him. They can't boast his experience as an NFL offensive coordinator, so they can't hold too much resentment toward him being brought in over them.

Experience might trump perceived loyalties in this case.

It's all tough, but making such decisions is why McCaskey gave Johnson the big money in 2025—that and his ability to beat Matt LaFleur twice in a season.

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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.