5 Lions assistant coaches who could follow Ben Johnson to the Bears

Ben Johnson is the Bears' new head coach, and these five Lions assistants could follow him to Chicago.

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On Monday, less than 48 hours since the Detroit Lions season-ending loss to the Washington Commanders (much to the chagrin of some angry Lions' fans), reports came that offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is close to a deal that will make him the next head coach of the Chicago Bears.

Assuming the deal is finalized, Johnson's focus now moves to how he'll fill out his coaching staff in Chicago.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Network first mentioned former New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen as a name to watch for Johnson's defensive coordinator wherever he went as the head coach. After the news Johnson is headed to the Bears, Dianna Russini of The Athletic and ESPN's Adam Schefter mentioned Allen as the top candidate to be Johnson's defensive coordinator.

So with the prominent post of defensive coordinator all but spoken for, Johnson has all the other positions to fill and he surely has and presented a plan to the Bears for how he'll do so.

Focused on who he could take with him, as is common for incoming head coaches to do (see Dan Campbell bringing Aaron Glenn with him from New Orleans), here are five Lions' assistants who could follow Johnson to the Bears.

5 Lions assistants who could follow Ben Johnson to the Bears

5. Assistant wide receivers coach Seth Ryan

The 30-year old Ryan, son of former Jets and Bills head coach and current ESPN analyst Rex Ryan, has been the assistant wide receivers coach for the Lions since coming aboard on Campbell's original staff in 2021. Before that, he spent two seasons as an offensive quality control coach with the Los Angeles Chargers.

Johnson got all the credit (and blame, when they went wrong) for a deep bag of trick plays as Lions' offensive coordinator. But Ryan was one of three coaches he credited for helping come up with special plays, which worked more often than not.

Following Johnson to Chicago would be an easy promotion for Ryan, to wide receivers coach.

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