Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Will the Bears be able to retain Declan Doyle? | Take The North

Episode Date: January 29, 2026

From 'Take The North' (subscribe here): Dan Wiederer and Mark Grote discuss the coaches the Bears could lose to other teams this offseason. Offensive coordinator Declan Doyle already turned down the Eagles OC job. Will he be sticking around? To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Guys, by now you've heard me talk about Collars & Co, makers of the dress collar polo. They've already sold over a million of these amazing shirts. Well, Collars & Co just came out with the new Maverick Performance Blazer. This blazer is sharp and wrinkle resistant so you can travel anywhere with it. Just throw it in your bag and it will remain wrinkle-free. It even comes with security zip pockets, a sunglasses loop, and an optional pocket square. So visit Collarsandco.com and use Code Tiki for 20% off at Collars and Coe. At Sierra, I discover top workout gear at incredible prices, which might lead to another discovery.

Your headphones haven't been connected this whole time. Awkward. Discover top brands at unexpectedly low prices. Sierra, let's get moving. New year? New me? Cute. But how about new year, new money?

With Experian, you can actually take control of your finances. Check your FICO score, find ways to save, and get masked with credit card offers. giving you time to power through those New Year's goals, you know you're going to crush. Start the year off right. Download the Experian app based on FICO score rate model. Offers an approval not guaranteed. Eligibility requirements and terms apply.

Subject to credit check which may impact your credit scores. Offers not available in all states. See expirion.com for details. Experian. You mentioned offensive coordinator and coaching and all of that kind of stuff. The word is that Declan Doyle, the Chicago Bears offensive coordinator, who does not call plays.

for the Chicago Bears interviewed in Philadelphia. Our good friend and one of the founding fathers of the Take the North podcast had a report on the score and has text me it as well, saying that Declan Doyle interviewed well with Philadelphia, told the job was his if he wanted it. They offered him the job. Another way to say it, he decided that he did not want it. That is the word according to Haw and his sources, what they have cited. and to go on that he is expected to, that is Declan Doyle, interview in Baltimore.

It's pretty amazing, Dan, that we have gotten to the point for the Bears where a first-time offensive coordinator can turn down promotions. Yeah, oh, man, look, like we used to document this all the time about the number of offensive play callers that have left Hallis Hall, not on the up escalator, right? Like they always go through a trapdoor. The only one that I can recall in my entire existence leaving on the up escalator was Adam Gase, who left for head coaching opportunities and ultimately didn't do so well in two different stops as a head coach.

But other than that, it's usually complete disaster on the offensive side of the ball. And then guys just have to pick up the pieces and go, yeah, that defensively obviously, Fangio. But I'm talking strictly offensive in the way that it just never happens at an offensive play caller. leaves in that way. On the topic of Declan Doyle, it'll be very interesting to see what happens with him and his discussions in Baltimore with obviously a new head coach there and a new start happening with the Ravens and Jesse Minter. I think you sat in that room enough with Declan this year to realize how bright his future is, how, you know, just intelligent and eloquent. And now you pair that up with a guy that's had experience around Sean Payton and

Ben Johnson and you're like, man, like, this guy's got some answers to the test. You know, live in those experiences with those two offensive masterminds. It helps you see the game a little bit more clearly, a little bit differently, a little bit sharper in ways that should help you as a coach. And so it's going to be really fascinating as young as he is to see what career trajectory he takes. And again, like when you are that young, you do have the luxury of being selective, which I like the fact that, as you mentioned, he is being selective.

have but no thanks to Philly. I think we all agreed that by the end of this season, the vibes with the Eagles were not real strong. And so I guess you decide to kind of, you know, roll the dice in a different pit. Yeah. We'll see how they come up. Our guy, Adams, our producer, writes,

and the Chad, maybe he thinks that Siriani is getting fired next year. That's why I bring up the vibes, right? Yeah. Like, yeah, who knows? And then where are you? Right. because, I mean, it felt like at times Siriani's job. Well, he did what he had to do with the offensive coordinator this year.

But it felt like, you know, he's next that he, I mean, it's pretty amazing because Philadelphia just won a Super Bowl. And you could, you could make the case that in Philly, there was talk about, you know, his job security, which is absolutely crazy. Declan Doyle is 30 years old. And he, it's interesting. Like, I'm just thinking about him as a candidate. day because I just feel like he's just so fresh and so new at being out front, being the out front guy,

and our conversations with him. And I mean this, I mean, what I'm about to say usually is not necessarily a great connotation. He's robotic, as in he answers every question with the same expression. The content is always good. I don't want to like say it somehow. Like his content might be the best of all the coordinators in terms of just being truthful about what he's seen. As a matter of fact, yeah, I'm just going to say it. Yeah.

And that includes some of the assistants that we talk to out in the hallway out at Hallis Hall, who, for them, it's even more relaxed environment. They're not up at a lectern staring at 30 media people. He, but he does it with the same expression. He looks the same every day. Like, he's got that part down, like being the same guy every day. And then the content of the answers that he gives us is usually just amazing. So he's, I don't know, man. Like, he could be the next whiz kid.

I don't want to, like, put too much on his plate. But if he's already getting interest from two teams, and I get it, this is the way the NFL world works. If you're good, your coaching staff's going to be rated. But it's very interesting with him in particular. Hey, this is Richard Deich, the host of the sports media podcast. If you're interested in what's happening with all the places where you consume sports, the sports media podcast has you covered. I've been turning down interviews all week.

Hoda Coppy, reached out, Oprah, George Stephanopoulos. So I said, no, I was booked on the Dighton. podcast before the Taylor Swift phenomenon, I must live up to my responsibility. Listen, wherever you get your podcasts. A little more insight just on because when you are the offensive coordinator for a play calling head coach, you have sort of a different set of responsibilities. And, you know, back when Ben was hired, it was essentially defined as somebody that could set the table every week. The head coach is pulled in a lot of different directions on the day after games. He's got

to deal with ownership. He's got to deal with the media. He's got to deal with discontal players. He's got to deal with the trainers and the doctors figuring out injuries. And so you need somebody that can be ahead of the game with the homework for the next week. And that's, you know, that's why a guy like Declan Doyle will leave a game on, say it's a Sunday night game and be back at Hallis Hall doing the homework so that when Ben has a chance to surface and get back into the most important parts of his role, he's set up for success. And so you have to have somebody that is a willing servant, I guess is an easy way to put it, very hardworking, you know, unrelenting work ethic. And I think he checked a lot of those boxes. You heard some

of the praise late in the year from Ben Johnson for the way Declan Doyle helped this staff elevate themselves. And I thought from top to bottom, this staff, and Ben said it himself was an A-plus staff that got the most out of this team. And, you know, maybe there's going to be some new faces and some new voices that come into the building because of the attrition. But man, they really want to try to maintain some of that special sauce they had going this past season because as we witnessed up close and personal, it really did make a difference in the way the team perform. Try to keep as many of those guys as you can. If not, that's okay. You're starting your tree and that's a good thing. And what really good head coaches all have the same. Talk about your

classics like Belichick, the guy, Sean McVeigh, who was becoming that way. They always manage to rehire good assistants because they've, they've, lost them all through the years, especially like Bill Belichick was the king of that, right? Every single offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator, gone, gone, gone, gone, went on to their own jobs and he overcame it. You also mentioned just that, you know, this is the plight of a good team. And like Detroit experienced that this year, right? Like the hit the N-Camel staff got raided.

He lost both coordinators after last season. They lost a whole bunch of assistant coaches and they had to rebuild it. And it wasn't always smooth, which is why they are making some more changes this year because they, you know, that didn't quite land on the right guys the first time around when you're going for replacements, Drew Petsing, who, by the way, stood up in Ben Johnson's wedding, will be the new offensive coordinator in Detroit in a position that Ben once held. But that's it, right? So it does become challenging in certain circumstances, even when you've got it humming and flowing,

to find the right fits and to recreate chemistry. And I think that's part of some of what Ben is voiced in recent weeks is that, like, you know, the 2025 Bears book is closed, you know, and like, we've got to start a whole new book at page one with our pen, with our typewriter, whatever you use to write nowadays. And we've got to fill this book with as many happy stories as 2025. Let me tell you, I'm the greatest hybrid ever of where. And you might be too, Dan.

You might be too of writing things down and typing things out. Because I got a million things written down always on a piece of paper in front of me, just so I never lose that base of info that I need to reference. It's like having the alphabet in front of you. But yeah, man, I mean, in my notes, in my phone, you'll find stuff on, you know, in a document, you'll find stuff. So I'm a hybrid, Dan. I don't about you. Maybe one day this off season, I'll take this little webcam off of our setup here and walk you around my office. And you can see all the gas station receipts and kids homework and stuff that I've got to scribble stuff. Oh, I got to remember to say that. I got to write. It's, it's, it is an absolute mess. I've got to find a better way to organize my thoughts than how I do it. But I do need to put pen to paper. It's, it doesn't work. work in my brain unless it first comes out of this hand onto a piece of paper and then I can put it in the computer however I see. I love old school recording.

And I think most of us still do. Even the young ins, you still got to write stuff down. Did you ever see the movie spotlight about the Boston world? Oh, yeah. And just like, it's a very serious topic, obviously, with Catholic priests and that's not what I'm going to get into, but just the journalism part of that. and how they would, you know, give me that netbook, you know, to write something down. Or all the president's men, too. Another great journalism movie where they're just, you just find anything you can to scribble stuff down on.

What's good, y'all? It's Vaughn Miller, Super Bowl MVP, Sagmaster, and now your host of Free Rain. This is where NFL meets Real Talk. Every week, I'm bringing you inside the game from locker room stories to league-wide headlines. You want football IQ, locker room insight, and real conversations with the people shaping the league. Welcome to Free Range with Vaughn Miller, where nothing is off limits and every down counts. New episodes every Wednesday. Listen and follow Free Range with me, Von Miller, wherever you get your podcast.