For the past few seasons, the Detroit Lions have had to worry about their coaching staff getting poached by other teams. This year, it appears the rest of the NFC North is going through similar struggles, while the Lions have yet to lose a single coach to another vacancy.
Detroit showed last year that the “brain drain”—regression due to losing key coaches—is certainly a believable thing, and now it could be coming for their rivals.
Let’s take a closer look at how the division has shifted thus far,
with still some shuffling to come in the upcoming weeks.
Chicago Bears
- LOST: Assistant GM Ian Cunningham to Falcons’ GM job
- LOST: RB coach Eric Bieniemy to Chiefs’ OC job
- LOST: Offensive coordinator Declan Doyle to Ravens’ OC job
As of Monday, the Bears had not replaced any of these three losses among their staff. There are some internal options, but Chicago will certainly have to try and rebound from these somewhat significant losses.
Losing a key member of the front office is never easy, and Cunningham was largely considered an up-and-comer. There’s also the extra sting that due to a technicality—the Falcons GM job does not have final roster say—the Bears will not receive draft pick compensation related to the Rooney Rule.
As for losing Bieniemy and Doyle, it certainly could hurt the Bears. But with Ben Johnson still running the show on offense, I don’t think anyone is realistically expecting a huge step back on offense in 2026.
Minnesota Vikings
- FIRED: GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah
- LOST: DB coach/pass game coordinator Daronte Jones to Commanders’ DC job
- Replaced by former Steelers’ DB coach Gerald Alexander
The Vikings didn’t lose all that much, and—most importantly—they were able to retain defensive coordinator Brian Flores despite his contract running out and several head coaching opportunities. Flores is reportedly getting a massive $6 million a year deal in Minnesota.
The Commanders settled for the next best thing when they made Daronte Jones their new defensive coordinator, but the Vikings swiftly replaced him with the well-respected Gerald Alexander.
But Minnesota made the odd decision to fire general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah a few weeks into their offseason. The Vikings announced they will not conduct a GM search until after the draft, and executive vice president of football operations Rob Brzezinski will lead the personnel side until then.
Green Bay Packers
- LOST: DC Jeff Hafley to Dolphins’ head coach job
- Replaced by Jonathan Gannon
- LOST: LB coach Sean Duggan to Dolphins’ DC job
- LOST: DB coach Ryan Downard to Dolphins’ secondary coach job
- LOST: Defensive pass game coordinator Derrick Ansley
- Replaced by Bobby Babich
- LOST: Defensive quality control coach Wendel Davis to Dolphins
- LOST: Defensive analyst Nathaniel Hackett to Dolphins’ QB coach job
- LOST: QB coach Sean Mannion to Eagles’ OC job
After two successful years as the Packers’ defensive coordinator, Hafley landed the Dolphins head coaching job and he’s taking at least four Packers coaches with him. This feels like a pretty significant loss for a Packers defense that took a big jump since their Joe Barry years. Jonathan Gannon, the team’s new defensive coordinator, is a well-respected defensive mind who led a strong Eagles squad in 2021-22, but he also had an immense amount of talent.
To make matters even worse, the Packers lost Sean Mannion on the offensive side of the ball. At 33 years old, he is an up-and-comer, which is always nice to have on the coaching roster.
Among all of these teams, Green Bay seems most likely to suffer from “brain drain,” particularly on the defensive side of the ball.
