While both the NFC and AFC Championship games were played last Sunday, that did not stop the Chicago Bears from leaking the hiring of both offense and defensive coordinators.
They officially hired Dennis Allen, a former head coach with the Oakland Raiders and the New Orleans Saints as their new defensive coordinator. Allen's aggressive style is a welcomed change from Matt Eberflus' outdated Tampa 2 scheme.
Even though Johnson would be calling plays, fans were still curious about who was going to be hired as the offensive coordinator, even in title only. The Bears named Declan Doyle, a little-known tight end who coaches with the Denver Broncos. Both he and Allen have a connection with the Saints, as Doyle was an offensive assistant from 2019-22 before joining the Broncos in 2023, while Allen was a defensive coordinator from 2015-21.
Doyle's hiring is a head-scratcher. Johnson is gambling on his youth, hunger, and determination to move up in the coaching ranks, which requires long hours of studying and analyzing tapes.
However, Doyle's anonymity was exposed on Monday when Dan Bernstein from Chicago's sports radio 670 The Score, who hosts "Bernstein and Harris" middays, revealed the dirt on his father as Chris Doyle, a former strength and conditioning coach with the University of Iowa and Jacksonville Jaguars.
So Bears OC Declan Doyle is the son of Chris Doyle; the abusive, racist strength coach fired by both Iowa and the Jaguars. https://t.co/rlmpdogsDJ
— Dan Bernstein (@dan_bernstein) January 27, 2025
Chris Doyle was at Iowa from 1999 until 2020 and was fired when several former players spoke out on racial disparities inside the program and Doyle for his racist remarks. Among the players who spoke out against him was former Bear guard James Daniels. Doyle was hired by the Jacksonville Jaguars to be the Director of Sports Performance on February 11, 2021, when Urban Meyer was a head coach. But the backlash led to Doyle's resignation the following day.
Chris Doyle's past transgression has nothing to do with Declan Doyle
Ironically, Doyle began his coaching career as a student assistant at the University of Iowa, the same school where his father got into trouble. Unless proven otherwise, Chris Doyle's actions at Iowa do not directly reflect who Declan Doyle is not only as a football coach but, more importantly, as a human being.
For Bernstein to smear Declan Doyle was disingenuous and completely unfair. Besides, Bernstein is a man without his own past issues. Back in 2015, he had to apologize for sexist remarks towards Comcast SportsNet Chicago reporter Aiyana Cristal. Last September, he had a highly publicized spat involving Barstool Eddie from Barstool Sports when he called Bernstein by his last name during a cross-talk segment on 670 The Score.