Why Declan Doyle sees age as no obstacle in Bears coordinator job

The NFL's youngest offensive coordinator is ready to help set the table for Ben Johnson in an offense he sees as similar to what the Broncos and Saints used.
Declan Doyle hopes to get Caleb Williams producing in the new Bears offense like his old team, Denver did with Bo Nix in 2024.
Declan Doyle hopes to get Caleb Williams producing in the new Bears offense like his old team, Denver did with Bo Nix in 2024. / Photo: Chicago Bears Video
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Declan Doyle knows there are questions about his age, as a 28-year-old Bears offensive coordinator for coach Ben Johnson.

He expected it and should, as the NFL's youngest offensive coordinator.

"Last year was the first time I've ever actually been older than all the players in my (position) room," Doyle said. "This is going to be my 10th year. But that's really kinda been a part of my journey to this point."

Doyle has a position with the Bears that doesn't include calling plays, with Johnson doing this. So he sees this as an opportunity to get to the next level when he does call them but win games along the way. Age is but a number to him and he doesn't see it as important to the players he coaches.

"I think knowledge is power," Johnson said. "That is what the guys care about ultimately.

"I think players care about, can you help me? First and foremost, can you put me in a position to be successful to help the organization and my family? That’s earned. You have to put in the work and earn that trust and that confidence. That’s my plan here—to hit the ground running and go to work."

Doyle has been tied to Sean Payton since leaving a student-assistant coaching job at Iowa in 2018 and this will be his second year coaching without the Broncos coach providing guidance. Doyle was an offensive assistant from 2019-22 in New Orleans and Payton left the Saints after the 2021 season, then resurfaced in Denver in 2023. That’s when Doyle joined him there as a tight ends coach. 

Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen worked in New Orleans with Doyle and was head coach one year with Doyle on staff. Doyle also was on the staff with Lions head coach Dan Campbell when he was in New Orleans from 2016-20.

"I think that the No. 1 thing that stands out the moment you meet him, the moment you talk to him you sense a highly intelligent person, a guy that's been around the game, a guy that understands the game," Allen said of Doyle. "He understands the game from a multitude of different perspectives.

"I just think he's a really good, bright, young coach that has a really good future in front of him."

Doyle’s role has been labeled as “table setter” for coach Ben Johnson because he isn’t calling plays.

“I think that’s a good way to describe it,” Doyle said. “Ben is gonna have less time than he’s ever had as a play-caller. Obviously I think that’s kind of a thing that’s morphing as we go, to try to figure out what that looks like.

“My job is really gonna be to organize and detail the game plan initially, utilizing our staff. Everybody will have different assignments, how we’re gonna build this thing schematically as we attack a defense. Basically, I have to do that work that he’s not gonna have time to do, and he’s going to have to be able to trust me that I’m gonna give him the correct information he needs as a decision maker. And really throughout the week, streamlining the teaching progression to the players, making sure that everything is built around them.”

How that will actually work will simply be determined through time on task together.

“The biggest thing is you’re on the same page and the play-caller,” Doyle said. “Me and Ben are gonna have to spend a ton of time together diving into film.

“I’m really, really excited to be able to go do that. And make sure I see the game the same way he sees it, to be able to orchestrate it and set the table for him and really make sure we’re doing it the way he wants to do it.”

When Doyle delves into the offense, he expects it will look like those he has been familiar with because they’re similar to what Johnson used.

“Obviously, watching Detroit from afar there's a lot of similarities between what we did in New Orleans and Denver and the offense he (Johnson) has built,” Doyle said. “It's really the modern version of that (offense).

“So I'm very excited to kind of sit down with Ben, discuss scheme, discuss things that fit our personnel in being able to shape this thing around the personnel we have here.”

The key personnel being the quarterback, Caleb Williams, and Doyle saw last year how it was all done in Bo Nix’s successful rookie year with the Broncos.

“The arm talent, it’s crazy,” Doyle said. “It’s very, very impressive. He’s a very impressive player. I got to watch him a little bit when he was at USC. Didn’t get a chance to watch him as much this past year.

“I’ve started to dive into him, but I wouldn’t say that that’s a full evaluation quite yet. I don’t think that would be fair. I think the biggest thing is just the talent of the kid, the ability to use his legs. He is a tough kid. You see it on tape. Obviously the communication and did all that stuff. But his second-act, his ability to evade the pocket, his ability to create is a special thing and it’s something that I got to see with Bo in Denver last year. That ability to evade and put pressure on a defense and kind of be the eraser of game-planning mistakes, I think that’s really exciting about him.”

Johnson said he’s shaping the offense around Williams. It’s not unlike what the Broncos did last year with Nix.

“I think Bo got better as the year went on and got more comfortable within the offense,” Doyle said. “We certainly tried to shape it around him. There were things we did that were different than we had ever done, allowing him to try to leave the pocket and get into space where he wanted to play.

“We hit a big play against Kansas City late in the game on something that in previous years we had never had before. And so, I think, first and foremost, Caleb being in here, going through all of his tape, evaluating what we feel like he's good at, what we feel like he's really capable of going out and being the best in the world at, excelling at it and trying to shape and build the offense around that. I would say that's what we tried to do with Bo. And that's what we're going to do here.”

It's a plan, and it seems a bit deeper than what was described for Williams last offseason.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher 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.