With a successful season, a key offensive architect for Chicago's surprising turnaround faces a lucrative NFL head coaching opportunity.
The Chicago Bears reached the playoffs for the first time since 2020 after an 11-6 regular season finish.
The Bears won the NFC North and were the No. 2 seed in the NFC. Their luck ended in the Divisional Round with a 20-17 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Rams on a game-winning field goal.
With that success comes the likelihood that assistants on Ben Johnson's staff would start to field interviews from other teams. That has been a reality for the Bears this offseason.
The Bears have already lost running backs coach Eric Bieniemy to the Kansas City Chiefs. He rejoined the franchise to fill their offensive coordinator opening. Matt Nagy held the position this season, but left to pursue head coaching opportunities.
Defensive backs coach Al Harris has also been busy as of late. He interviewed with the Green Bay Packers for their defensive coordinator opening, but they went with former Arizona Cardinals head coach and Philadelphia Eagles assistant Jonathan Gannon.
Harris is now reportedly the favorite to land the DC job with the Pittsburgh Steelers now that Mike McCarthy has been hired. Harris played corner for McCarthy on the Packers from 2006-09.
Even Declan Doyle has been interviewing with various teams. He initially was considered for the Eagles OC position, but withdrew his name.
Now, he's been asked to speak with the Baltimore Ravens, via The Chicago Tribune's Brad Biggs. The Ravens have an opening at offensive coordinator after the events of Wednesday, and that's just the position Doyle is interviewing for with Baltimore.
John Harbaugh was fired and is now the HC of the New York Giants, and the Ravens hired former Los Angeles Chargers DC Jesse Minter to replace him. Former Ravens OC Todd Monken joined the Cleveland Browns as their HC after Kevin Stefanski was let go.
The Bears had an offensive transformation this past season. They finished 12th in passing yards (234.8), third in rushing yards (144.8) and ninth in points per game (25.9).
Losing Doyle would be a big blow to Johnson's staff.
The Bears not only have to worry about losing assistants, but also re-signing players. The likes of Kevin Byard, Jaquan Brisker, Braxton Jones, Theo Benedet, Andrew Billings, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Nahshon Wright and Jonathan Owens are set to hit the free agent market.
Chicago has its hands full this offseason, but this is what happens when you have a successful year.