A key Bears assistant, Al Harris, is a strong contender for a defensive coordinator role, potentially reuniting with a former coach.
The Chicago Bears may have avoided losing defensive backs coach Al Harris to the Green Bay Packers, but he's still being targeted by other teams.
Harris was being interviewed for the defensive coordinator opening that the Packers had after Jeff Hafley left to become the head coach of the Miami Dolphins.
The 2025 season was Harris' first with the Bears, and it paid dividends. Safety Kevin Byard led the NFL with seven interceptions, and cornerback Nahshon Wright wasn't too far behind with five.
The Packers ended up hiring former Arizona Cardinals HC and Philadelphia Eagles assistant Jonathan Gannon. However, the Green Bay connection is still strong for Harris.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have hired former Green Bay HC Mike McCarthy to fill their vacancy. Harris played cornerback for the Packers from 2003-2009, and for McCarthy when he was with the organization from 2006-2009. He also worked with McCarthy as an assistant at the Dallas Cowboys in 2024.
According to Trey Carney, Harris is the favorite to join McCarthy's staff as DC.
Chicago's assistants have been tough to keep this offseason.
The Bears already lost running backs coach Eric Bieniemy to the Kansas City Chiefs. He returned to Kansas to be their offensive coordinator after Matt Nagy left to pursue head coaching opportunities.
Current OC Declan Doyle was being interviewed by the Eagles for the opening, but he opted to withdraw his name from consideration and return to Chicago for now.
However, it's believed that Doyle wishes to pursue head coaching openings next offseason, so he may not be around for too much longer.
Having him around for longer definitely wouldn't be a bad thing. Doyle helped turn things around with the Chicago offense.
The Bears finished 12th in passing yards (234.8), third in rushing yards (144.8) and ninth in points per game (25.9).
On top of their assistants leaving for other opportunities, the Bears also have to make contract decisions for their players who are becoming free agents. Kevin Byard and Jaquan Brisker are the most valuable players who have expiring contracts.
Olamide Zaccheaus, Braxton Jones, Theo Benedet, Andrew Billings, Jonathan Owens, Nahshon Wright and C.J. Gardner-Johnson are also hitting the free agent market.
After the kind of season the Bears have had, it shouldn't come as a surprise that they are struggling to keep their assistants this offseason. Chicago reached the playoffs for the first time since 2020 and made it to the Divisional Round.
This is just the cost of having a successful year.