Sitting with an 11-4 record heading into Week 17, the Bears have had the greatest turnaround in the NFC and one of the greatest in the NFL compared to last season. It’s no surprise, then, that members of their coaching staff could be high in demand for promotions when the year ends.
In a Saturday article, CBS Sports insider Jonathan Jones indicated that the Bears have multiple coaches who could generate looks for coordinator jobs at the end of the regular season. The coaches who were listed in the article as notable
coordinator candidates on either side of the ball are as follows:
- Passing game coordinator Press Taylor
- QB coach J.T. Barrett
- RB coach Eric Bieniemy
- DB coach and defensive passing game coordinator Al Harris
As Jones also clarifies, the Bears could block coordinator interview requests for offensive coordinator Declan Doyle and defensive coordinator Dennis Allen. However, should another team request to interview Chicago’s other assistants for such roles, they would be unable to shut those down.
Arguably the two most notable assistant coaches speculated in the article are Bieniemy and Harris. Bienemy, 56, was the offensive coordinator the Chiefs from 2018 to 2022, during which he won two Super Bowl under Andy Reid. He was the subject of rumors around several head coaching openings in the NFL during his time there, but he was never selected.
He also spent 2023 as the Commanders’ offensive coordinator and 2024 as UCLA’s offensive coordinator in the college ranks, but neither tenure was all that fruitful. His resurgence could come after a stellar season coaching D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai, as the Bears rank second in both rushing yards per game and yards per carry going into Week 17.
Harris, 51, has unsurprisingly been floated around as a potential defensive coordinator candidate. Jones had this to say for CBS in the sourced article:
Harris, Chicago’s team’s defensive backs coach and defensive passing game coordinator, has overseen a unit responsible for a league-leading 21 interceptions. A coach the past 13 years, Harris was previously with the Cowboys. In his final four years in Dallas, the Cowboys had the most interceptions in the league with 72 between 2021 to 2024. He had Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland as first-team All Pros. Today, the Cowboys have the second-fewest interceptions in the league this season.
Given the success of their team, the Bears could face a coaching overhaul somewhat similar to what the Lions experienced in 2025. However, two things separate Chicago from Detroit, who has since plummeted to last place in the NFC North. One, neither of the two primary coordinators seem likely to leave. Two, and perhaps most importantly, the Bears still have Ben Johnson.
