Ben Johnson has been working quickly to assemble a new staff in Chicago. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Bears‘ new head coach has even contributed to the continued dissolution of the Lions‘ coaching staff, hiring Antwaan Randle El as the team’s new assistant head coach and wide receivers coach. Schefter adds that, while the Bears are still working to fill their defensive coordinator position, Johnson has already poached Cowboys defensive backs coach Al Harris to take the role of defensive pass-game coordinator and defensive backs coach in Chicago. 
Randle El, a fairly successful former NFL receiver who made his mark as a return man, retired as a player back in 2011, taking a job as the athletic director at a Christian high school in Virginia that he helped found a few years later. In 2019, Randle El made a return to the NFL as an offensive assistant on the Buccaneers, winning a Super Bowl ring as a coach while assisting his former wide receivers coach and offensive coordinator Bruce Arians in Tampa Bay.
In 2021, Randle El was hired under Dan Campbell as the wide receivers coach in Detroit. He’s built a reliable stable for the Lions, forming then-fourth-round rookie Amon-Ra St. Brown into a star wideout, helping first-round receiver Jameson Williams navigate his way back from a nasty torn ACL suffered in his final collegiate game, and helping players like Josh Reynolds, Tim Patrick, and Kalif Raymond make big supportive impacts in Detroit. He’ll now follow Johnson to Chicago, where he’ll inherit a corps that loses Keenan Allen but returns a talented duo in D.J. Moore and Rome Odunze.
It’s strange to see a defensive position coach get hired before a defensive coordinator, but it’s certainly understandable for Harris, who makes a long-awaited return to the NFC North after spending eight years of his 14-year playing career as a Packer. The two-time Pro Bowl cornerback will take the new position in Chicago after five years in Dallas as defensive backs coach (with one of those years also giving him the title of assistant head coach).
Harris’ coaching career started in Kansas City where he worked with a secondary that included Eric Berry, Sean Smith, Brandon Flowers, and Husain Abdullah. His focus on the staff eventually shifted more specifically to cornerbacks as he worked with Smith, Marcus Peters, Steven Nelson, Kendall Fuller, and Orlando Scandrick. After a year as a defensive assistant at Florida Atlantic University, he joined the Cowboys staff as defensive backs coach, where he mentored stars like Trevon Diggs, Stephon Gilmore, DaRon Bland, and several other impact starters. Harris inherits a talented group in Chicago that stars Kevin Byard and features Jaylon Johnson, Tyrique Stevenson, Kyler Gordon, and Jaquan Brisker.
Johnson will continue to build out his staff, with former Saints head coach Dennis Allen being mentioned recently as a strong possibility to fill the defensive coordinator role. Broncos tight ends coach Declan Doyle has also been linked to the new Chicago staff. While he hasn’t coached with Johnson, Doyle worked with Campbell during their four years together in New Orleans. According to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune, the Bears “would likely have to give him the (offensive coordinator) title to get him out of Denver,” which may not be very likely. In two years in his current role, Doyle’s tight ends have combined for only 845 yards and nine touchdowns over the two-season span, with no one getting more than 204 yards or three touchdowns.
Johnson was a highly touted head coach prospect, and he’s quickly building a talented staff of popular names around him. Bringing in accomplished position coaches who have formed incredible position groups over the last several years marks a strong start to his first NFL coaching gig. Bears assistants recently announced as not expected to return under Johnson include defensive backs coach Jon Hoke and running backs coach Chad Morton., per Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times. They follow in the footsteps of former passing game coordinator/interim offensive coordinator/interim head coach Thomas Brown and former defensive coordinator Eric Washington, who were previously reported as not returning.
YES!!! Antwaan Randle El is finally a Bear!!!! Always wanted him on the team when he was a player.
Why?
Congrats?
With the coaches and coordinators going to other places, will the Lions go back to being trash?
No because Dan and Brad are still there. They are the ones who hired them and put them in the position to succeed. They will find replacements and do the same thing.
They can replace Glenn, good luck finding an OC as talented as Ben.
He was promoted from within. No reason to think they can’t do that again and probably will with Engstrand and Sheppard.
Campbell promoted all of them or brought them with. I don’t understand why people don’t believe that he can do it again. He’s proven an ability to develop not only coaches but also players. Remember when everyone wanted Glenn fired during his first 2-3 years? They’ll be just fine. While losing Johnson is tough, I’d like to see a TAD less trick plays. The Lions would be averaging 8+ yards a play and then he would call an unnecessary trick play and screw them over. Need an OC who runs a normal offense with a relative twist when necessary…AKA let’s not have Jamo throw his first ever pass during a great drive in a damn playoff game. Definition of cocky.
The next OC will learn so much from Bens film about what to do, but also he will learn greatly from what not to do. Not to say the Bears won’t be exciting, but now they’ll be like the cowboys…lose but look pretty while doing so
The Cowboys lost 44-19 to the Saints, lost 47-9 to the Lions and were outscored 75-13 by the Eagles. You have an interesting perspective of what looks pretty 🙂
The Cowboys didn’t even look good when they won.
LMAO! Will the Lions be trash? Really? Who do you think found BJ and gave him a chance? And Johnson may be a great play caller, but he has Adam Gase written all over him. Randle El was a decent WR coach, but he didn’t make St. Brown or Jamo who they are. If anyone who left the Lions coaching staff is going to turn out to be a great leader of men, it’s gonna be Aaron Glenn. He has a fire and a style that BJ has never portrayed. And Johnsons plays work a hell of a lot better with an OL like Detroits. Let’s see how well it works with CHI offense! And the best coach he TRIED to poach ended up staying put. That’s Hank Frayley, who ain’t going nowhere.
The primary advantage the Lions have over division rivals is that they have an experienced veteran QB in Goff while the Packers, Vikings and Bears are in the process of developing young QBs. Love is already showing that he can be a long term guy in Green Bay and eventually the gap between Goff and other starting QBs in the NFC North is going to erode.