Bears assistant coach tracker: Who's coming, going — and interviewing

Bears coach Ben Johnson said Wednesday he was at peace with the possibility he could lose assistants from his "five-star staff" to better jobs elsewhere. It was something he encouraged.

"Anything I can do to help them out, I think they all know I’m more than willing to do that," he said. "But a big part of what this collection of guys brought to the table was they all wanted to be here. That was a big thing for me. I want guys that want to be here, and so if a guy wants to continue to build upon what we started, then I would love that as well."

Tracking which Bears coaches are taking interviews — and jobs — in the wake of the Bears' playoff loss to the Rams:

Thursday

• The Eagles have asked to interview Bears offensive coordinator Declan Doyle, per ESPN. Doyle became the youngest offensive coordinator in the NFL last year at age 28, but he didn't call plays — Johnson did. Doyle has described his job in Chicago as setting the table for Johnson to run the offense, whether it was running meetings or working with players while he performs his head coach duties.

"Dec's done a phenomenal job this year," Johnson said last week. "He's everything I thought he was gonna be and some. He's got tremendous presence in front of the players. Extremely smart. He's picked up the offense quickly throughout the spring and camp and has been able to augment to it. ... Hopefully we can keep him here for a long time, but I know he's been an asset to me, he's been an asset to our offense and all these players as well."

Wednesday

• The Bears lost running backs coach Eric Bieniemy to the Chiefs. He'll become their offensive coordinator for a second time. Bieniemy worked for head coach Andy Reid in Kansas City as running backs coach from 2013-17 and as coordinator from 2018-22. Bieniemy takes the place of former Bears head coach Matt Nagy.

• Defensive backs coach Al Harris interviewed for the Packers’ defensive coordinator job. Harris played cornerback in Green Bay from 2003-09, earning two Pro Bowl nods. Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley was named the Dolphins’ coach this week. Harris also has caught the eye of the Commanders, per ESPN, and could interview for their coordinator position this week.

• Assistant general manager Ian Cunningham, who interviewed for the Falcons' President of Football job earlier this month, will interview for the same team's GM position, per NFL Network. The Bears would not receive two draft picks were Cunningham to leave, as the NFL doesn't consider that position to be the main decision maker in the Falcons front office.

Tuesday

• Boston College head coach Bill O'Brien said Tuesday that Eagles offensive coordinator Will Lawing was leaving to take an as-yet-unknown job with the Bears. Lawing and Johnson were both walk-ons at North Carolina together.

"He had a great opportunity to go work for Ben," O'Brien told BC reporters. "He went to North Carolina with Ben, and obviously the Bears are doing a great job."