Ravens OC Ready for Next Step After Bears Run

For the second year in a row and the third time in the last four years, Declan Doyle will be part of a collaborative process to establish and build a new offensive system from the ground up. The difference this time around is that he is the architect responsible for the design and will be the one calling the shots on game day as the new offensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens under head coach Jesse Minter.

While he was comfortable holding the same role last year with the upstart Chicago Bears under first-time head coach Ben Johnson, it was in a non-play-calling capacity. When the opportunity to make a lateral move and execute the full duties of a coordinator as the orchestrator and designer of his own unit arose, he made the move from the Windy City to Charm City.

"The difference here is being able to put your own spin on some of those things," Doyle said in a recent appearance on The Lounge podcast. "This is really a collaborative thing with myself and our staff. This is our offense. This is the 2026 Baltimore Ravens. This is what we want it to look like."

At 29 years old, he will be the youngest offensive coordinator in the league for the second year in a row, and as "surreal” as the experience of being a first-time play-caller is, it is one Doyle believes he feels "very ready" for and is excited about.

Applying recent experience with hope of more immediate success

Despite not being the primary play designer and caller for the Bears in 2025, he served an integral role in what was one of the most explosive, balanced and innovative offenses in the league that had them on the doorstep of making the NFC title game. Chicago finished sixth in total offense, 10th in passing, third in rushing, just behind the Ravens, and ninth in scoring.

"My role last year was to support Ben, support the rest of the staff, make sure I was giving ideas," Doyle said. "Ben may have had other things going on as the head coach. You were setting the table to where he could come in and most of the work was already done."

In his eyes, the biggest adjustment to his role with the Ravens compared to the Bears last year is that he has the final stamp of approval when it comes to implementing new elements into the playbook and the game plan each week.

“I think it’s incredibly beneficial to be a part of a program that kinda just had a year one where you’re trying to implement the standards and the details of what we were asking both as a team and as an offense,” Doyle said. “It’s really similar to what we’re going to go through here this year.”

From the start of the offseason program, beginning with Organized Team Activities and going through mandatory minicamp before the team breaks for training camp, he plans for the Ravens' installation process to mirror what he went through with the Bears last year.

“That experience is going to be really invaluable for me as we kind of work through this process,” Doyle said. "This is really a collaborative thing with myself and our staff, and so we don't want it to feel like this isn't my offense. This isn't it. This is our offense. This is the 2026 Baltimore Ravens. This is what we want it to look like. And I'm certainly excited about being the leader of that group, and being able to kind of teach not only our players but our coaches exactly what our expectations are for our offense and this season."

Lessons learned from offensive gurus

Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson looks on from the sideline against the Detroit Lions during a game at Soldier Field. — Jan 4, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson looks on from the sideline against the Detroit Lions during the first half at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images | David Banks-Imagn Images

Doyle had the privilege of working under two of the brightest minds in the game when it comes to offense during his time in the league, coming up through the ranks, first with Sean Payton with the New Orleans Saints and the Denver Broncos, followed by a one-year stint with Johnson last year.

Even though his time in Chicago was the shortest of the two, it left an indwelling impression on him and how he wants to go about building up his own offense with a new team.

"I think the detail and the championship standard that was implemented was exactly what I would emulate," Doyle said. "There was a commitment to it every single day. As far as you know, we're not going to be vague about what we're going to ask our players to do. We're going to make sure that they understand what the expectations are, and then the championship standard is holding them and ourselves to that every single day, the standard you walk by is the standard you accept, and that becomes the new standard.

"Not being afraid to be vocal to make sure that we hold our players, our coaches accountable and what we do in, you know, April, May, June, is going to carry us into November, and it's going to allow us to play, you know, at a playoff caliber in when it's playoff time, and not have to change the way we behave. And so it's establishing, you know, the standards that we expect. It's a it's, you know, starting to become a player led team where those guys know the standard that they can uphold that for each other. And I think that's when you are at your best, is when the players start to embody what you're asking and they're showing up every day and doing it."

Doyle got his start in the NFL and spent the longest time at the highest level of the sport with Payton, who is a former Super Bowl champion. He started as an offensive assistant under him in the first three of his four years in New Orleans and then joined him with the Broncos for two years as tight ends coach. Both stops were "extremely valuable" to his development as a coach over the past decade.

"I watched a guy that operated a really high level, and I worked with him for five years" Doyle said.

"I got to see him, you know, we talked about the experience of getting to Denver and being, or excuse me, beginning to Chicago in that first year and trying to rebuild something. We really went through the same thing in Denver when we got there. You know, it was a program that hadn't had very much success in recent times, and so you were starting to flip that mindset. And what went into that, it's something that, you know, I pulled from every day, just my experience with him, and, you know, my experience at Iowa and Chicago as well. But it's certainly been a huge piece of who I've become as a coach."