The Chicago Bears shocked many in the community when they hired Declan Doyle as their new offensive coordinator. There are good reasons for it. He is only 28 years old, making him one of the youngest coordinators in NFL history. For another, he's only been in the NFL for six seasons. Such inexperience would feel like a dangerous gamble in other circumstances. However, head coach Ben Johnson will be calling the plays, so this hire was more about finding somebody organized, hungry, and smart. By all accounts, Doyle has all of those traits.
Yet that isn't the craziest part of the hire. It is who the young assistant is (and might be) related to. His father is Chris Doyle. Before 2020, he was renowned as one of the best strength and conditioning coaches in college football at the University of Iowa. However, things changed when multiple former players, including former Bears guard James Daniels, alleged that Doyle was a racist.
"There are too many racial disparities in the Iowa football program. Black players have been treated unfairly for far too long."
Other players came forward with awful stories of his antics. His comments were unapologetic, knowing he could get away with it given his tenure within the program. That changed following the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota. The scandal led to Doyle's firing. After a brief stint in Jacksonville, he hasn't worked in football since. Obviously, the son shouldn't pay for the sins of the father, but it is still a wild story.
Declan Doyle has also been connected to a Bears legend.
The madness doesn't end there. There appears to be a rumor that the young assistant is also a nephew of franchise icon Mike Ditka. The sources for this remain somewhat spotty at the moment. Still, if it's true, that would make this story ten times better. A Ditka descendent coming home to help turn the franchise he carried to greatness in two different eras around once again. Hopefully, that will be confirmed at some point in the future. Until then, it is easy to understand Doyle's motivations.
Not only does he love football, having grown up with it, but he's also trying to escape the shadow of his disgraced father. He just took a massive step in that direction. Declan Doyle is rising up the ranks in the NFL. His father never made it to the big league in 30 years of coaching. Helping the Bears return to relevance would be a tremendous way to clean the tarnish off the family name. If he were Ditka's nephew, try to imagine what it would be like if Chicago won a championship.
They'd write novels about it.
