How will Bears coach Ben Johnson fill out his staff? Here’s what we know so far

LAKE FOREST – Ben Johnson is here. The Chicago Bears landed the top head coaching candidate of the 2025 cycle.

The franchise reveled in that big victory Wednesday when it introduced Johnson as head coach. But come Thursday morning, the real work began.

Johnson’s first order of business is to hire his coaching staff. These will be some of the most important decisions that he makes as he begins his journey as a head coach.

Johnson will call plays for the Bears' offense, but he still will need an offensive coordinator. He also will need to hire a defensive coordinator and a special teams coordinator, plus more than a dozen other position coaches.

Here’s what we know so far about how Johnson is building his coaching staff.

Bears expected to part ways with several coaches

As so often happens when a team changes its head coach, many of the Bears' assistant coaches are expected to go their separate ways.

The Athletic and ESPN reported Thursday that the Bears will part ways with interim head coach Thomas Brown, along with several other offensive coaches from Matt Eberflus' staff.

Brown rose from passing game coordinator to offensive coordinator to interim head coach over the course of the 2024 season. Before coming to Chicago, Brown was the offensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers.

He went 1-4 as the interim head coach and was among the 17 candidates to interview for the permanent job.

Additionally, the Bears are not expected to retain offensive coordinator and receivers coach Chris Beatty, offensive line coach Chris Morgan, quarterbacks coach Kerry Joseph or defensive coordinator Eric Washington.

Of that group, Morgan has been with the Bears the longest. Morgan coached the offensive line for all three years under Eberflus.

Defensive coordinator

Shortly after news broke that the Bears had hired Johnson on Monday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that former New Orleans head coach Dennis Allen was the favorite to land the defensive coordinator position.

But that seems to be far from a sure thing.

The NFL Network reported that the Bears requested an interview with Rams assistant head coach and defensive passing game coordinator Aubrey Pleasant.

Pleasant has been a big part of the defensive resurgence from the Rams over the past two seasons. He worked with Johnson and the Lions as defensive backs coach and defensive passing game coordinator from 2021-22. Notably, the Lions fired Pleasant after a 1-6 start in 2022.

Rams coach Sean McVay valued Pleasant enough to hand over head coaching duties for one preseason game last August.

As for Allen, Johnson has a lot of respect for the veteran coach, who was the Saints' defensive coordinator for seven years under Sean Payton.

“I’ve been more than pleased to see the number of people reach out and be interested in joining this staff.”

—  Ben Johnson, Bears head coach

“He has worked with Aaron Glenn, he has worked with Dan Campbell,” Johnson said Wednesday, while also noting that he has never met Allen. “Both speak very highly of him. So he’s on the list. But there are a number of really good candidates. And to be quite frank with you, I’ve been more than pleased to see the number of people reach out and be interested in joining this staff.”

The Bears also requested an interview with Minnesota Vikings defensive passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach Daronte Jones, according to the NFL Network. Jones has worked in Minnesota for four of the past five seasons (he left for one season in 2021 to be the defensive coordinator at LSU).

Offensive coordinator

It’s possible that Johnson could bring along an offensive coordinator from his offensive staff in Detroit. But newly hired coaches tend to tread lightly when it comes to raiding the staff of their former employer.

Johnson thanked his staff during his introduction Wednesday.

“The offensive staff in Detroit, there might have been some tough nights, there might have been some tough game days, but I do appreciate your support, your understanding and really your camaraderie,” Johnson said.

Lions offensive line coach Hank Fraley has been a popular name among fans. He oversees an elite offensive line in Detroit. Fraley has interviewed for the Seattle Seahawks' open offensive coordinator position. That’s notable because with a defensive-minded head coach in Mike Macdonald running things in Seattle, the Seahawks' OC would call plays for the offense.

That could be an obstacle for some potential candidates looking toward the OC job in Chicago. It’s a tougher path to landing a head coaching gig for an offensive coordinator who doesn’t call the plays on game day. Johnson confirmed this week that he will call the plays for the Bears' offense.

Schefter has reported that Lions running backs coach Scottie Montgomery and passing game coordinator Tanner Engstrand could be in the running to replace Johnson as the coordinator in Detroit.