The Eagles requested an interview on Thursday with Bears offensive coordinator Declan Doyle for the same role, a request that Chicago granted.
Doyle, 29, was hired by the Bears last offseason as the youngest offensive coordinator in the NFL. Though he didn’t call plays — that duty went to head coach Ben Johnson — he was still a key piece in emphasizing the attention to detail and explaining the “why” to Chicago’s offensive personnel behind their every move in the system.
Johnson, Sean Payton, former
Lions OC John Morton, and other coaches all rave about Doyle after having worked with him. Though the Bears’ offensive coordinator role is an attractive role to any prospective offensive coach, the Eagles’ role would likely see Doyle call the plays in Philadelphia, which he currently doesn’t do in Chicago.
There’s no guarantee Doyle leaves for Philadelphia, and if he did, it would be a big loss to the Bears’ coaching staff. That said, there’s another offensive wunderkind who comes from the same coaching tree and could project as a seamless replacement if Doyle doesn’t return to the Bears.
That coach’s name is Davis Webb.
Webb, who just turned 31 on Thursday, is in just his third year as a coach. If you recognize his name, you probably remember his playing career in the NFL. He was a third-round pick in 2017 after starting stints at Texas Tech and California, spending six seasons as a backup for the Giants, Jets, and Bills. He started in just one game in his career: a 2022 start for the Giants.
Just over a month after starting a game at QB, Webb retired and joined the Broncos’ coaching staff under Sean Payton as their quarterbacks coach. He spent two seasons there before adding the duties of pass game coordinator to his name in 2025, replacing John Morton as he headed to the Lions to become their OC. That role, in case you somehow forgot, was formerly held by Ben Johnson.
There’s a lot of history overlap between the Bears’, Lions’, and Broncos’ coaching staffs. Dan Campbell used to coach under Sean Payton in New Orleans, and he’s brought along a similar philosophy since becoming the head coach of Detroit in 2021. Therefore, when Johnson became Chicago’s head coach in 2025, it made sense that most of his own offensive staff had worked under either Campbell or Payton before.
In fact, these Bears offensive assistants in 2025 were tied to either of the two aforementioned coaches:
- OC Declan Doyle: Three seasons with Campbell, five seasons with Payton
- AHC/WRs coach Antwaan Randle El: Four seasons with Campbell
- QBs coach J.T. Barrett: Three seasons with Campbell
- OL coach Dan Roushar: Five seasons with Campbell, ten seasons with Payton
- Assistant OL coach Kyle DeVan: One season with Payton
That’s not everybody, and there are a few names from this year’s staff like Eric Bieniemy and Press Taylor who hadn’t previously worked directly with either Campbell or Payton. That said, the Bears would benefit from an element on continuity, so if they don’t promote from within, you’re likely hiring from either Detroit or Denver.
Webb has been in high demand around the NFL in such a short amount of time. Being hired directly into a positional coaching role, rather than starting as an assistant or quality control coach, shows how much confidence Payton had in Webb right out of the gate. He rose quickly into a key promotion after just two years coaching in the league.
There’s no guarantee Webb would take an offensive coordinator job, because he’s actually in the mix for a couple of head coaching opportunities already. ESPN’s Adam Schefter mentioned on The Pat McAfee Show that he’s in the mix for the Bills’ open head coaching job, as well as speculating he could fit in Las Vegas.
It’s safe to say Webb comes highly-regarded within NFL circles. It would certainly be a bold move for a team to hire Webb as their head coach right away, considering he’s still so new to coaching. That said, he’s certainly earned another promotion, and it could make sense for that to come in Chicago if Declan Doyle departs for Philadelphia.
This entire theory hinges on not only Doyle leaving Chicago, but Webb also missing out on a head coaching job, as well as him being willing to take an offensive coordinator job that doesn’t have him calling plays on offense. It’s a bold play and one that would need multiple things to transpire to even have a dream of having.
That said, should Doyle take the Eagles’ job, Webb is my first call to take the Bears’ OC spot over. For him, these are the following reasons a promotion over to the Bears could make sense:
- In title, it’s a raise on a rapidly-improving resume, and a monetary raise would surely come with taking Chicago’s OC job over staying in Denver
- The Bears have one of the hottest offenses in the NFL right now, as well as arguably the biggest rising star in the offensive coaching ranks in Ben Johnson as head coach. Attaching himself to that rocket would be a much safer bet than taking an OC job on a team that would likely have inferior talent
- There’s a lot of scheme familiarity for Webb if he were to work for Johnson. A whole portion of this article was dedicated to Johnson’s ties to the Sean Payton coaching tree, so it would be a lot of the same material being covered in Chicago as what he’s come to expect with the Broncos
As far as why the Bears should be interested if they need a new OC, here are a few testimonials from those in the know in the NFL or those who have worked directly with Webb.
From current Broncos QB Jarrett Stidham:
“He is an incredible coach, and he is going to be an incredible coach for a very long time in this league. I have been fortunate to be around some of the greats, and Davis is amazing, and I can’t speak highly enough about him.”
From NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero:
A third-round pick by the Giants in the 2017 NFL Draft, Webb spent parts of six seasons as an NFL QB. But he always planned for a future in coaching. He’s been on the fast track since Sean Payton hired him as quarterbacks coach in 2023 and was promoted this year. Payton even let Webb call plays in the second preseason game — one in which a group of mostly second-stringers put up 24 points in the first half against Arizona. Those who know Webb believe it’s a matter of when, not if, he becomes an NFL head coach. Even with Denver’s offense up and down, the Broncos are 9-2, and Webb’s first look could come this January.
And from Broncos HC Sean Payton:
“[H]is meetings are extremely organized…he’s played the position. I think even as a player at this level, when you talk to — and I spoke with Eli [Manning] and various players. He was tremendous on keeping things simple and knowing how to read certain plays and how to approach the game. I think he’s very positive with these guys.”
Of course, this point all becomes moot if Doyle doesn’t land the Eagles’ offensive coordinator job, so take this with a grain of salt. The Bears surely have some sort of contingency plan in place in case their own young offensive wunderkind leaves their organization. In my mind, that contingency plan should start by contacting Davis Webb right away.
