Assistant coaches at Senior Bowl say Bears nailed it with hires of OC Declan Doyle, DC Dennis Allen

MOBILE, Ala. — While many around the NFL were surprised to see Bears coach Ben Johnson hire 28-year-old Declan Doyle as his offensive coordinator — he’s the youngest coordinator in the league — some who worked with him saw it coming, like Saints assistants Kevin Petry and Jordan Traylor.

Petry thought Doyle, most recently the Broncos’ tight ends coach, could’ve handled the role two years ago, and Traylor saw that potential in Doyle when the Saints first hired him in 2019.

“He deserves everything he’s getting,” said Traylor, who like Petry is coaching in the Senior Bowl this week. “The guy is a stud. I met him when he was 22 years old and knew he was going to be a superstar. He was sharp, detailed, related well to the players. Everything about him is what you want.”

Several coaches on the Senior Bowl staffs worked with Doyle and new Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, both of whom were hired this week to join returning special teams coordinator Richard Hightower under Johnson. Allen gives Johnson a veteran resource who has been an NFL head coach twice, while Doyle is looking to ignite his young career.

Allen, 52, spent the past decade with the Saints, first as defensive coordinator from 2015 to ’21, then as head coach the last three seasons. Over two stints with the team, Allen spent 15 seasons there and overlapped with Doyle for four.

They fired him this season after a 2-7 start, which dropped his record to 18-25.

But all experience can be helpful and informative to Johnson, who is relatively early in his own career. He had just three seasons as an offensive coordinator before the Bears hired him.

Allen is especially valuable when it comes to his expertise. He inherited a disastrous Saints defense when he started and had it in the top 10 in the league in his third season. For seven consecutive seasons leading up to this one, the Saints were 14th or better in points allowed per game.

They slipped to 19th this season as injuries piled up and their season spun out of control, but multiple Saints assistants said Allen still maximized the talent he had and got buy-in from players.

“He’s just done it such a long time at a high level that he can answer any question from the d-line back to the secondary,” defensive assistant Adam Gristick said. “It’s a player’s defense, and he’s going to let his guys do their thing… Guys love playing in his defense.”

Broncos assistant Favian Upshaw worked under Doyle the last two seasons and noted the way he worked on the game plan “as if he was an OC” and had obsessive attention to detail. He also worked well with players, even as someone who wasn’t a football player — he played baseball in college — and wasn’t much older than them.

“It actually helps him because he’s around that same age and can relate to those guys,” Upshaw said. “He can be in the locker room and connect with them.”

One common thread for Allen and Doyle has been the influence of future Hall of Fame coach Sean Payton, who hired Allen as a low-level assistant in 2006 and gave Doyle his entry to the NFL in ’19.

“When you have Sean Payton as your coach, you just observe and learn,” Petry said.

That’s about as good of an NFL education as aspiring young coaches can get.

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