Bears Eyeing Underwhelming Coach for Ben Johnson's Staff

Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson's 2025 staff is slowly taking shape as he becomes acclimated to the Windy City.

So far, Johnson's staff features a mixture of experience levels. Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen has been around the league for over two decades and has previously been a head coach whereas 28-year-old offensive coordinator Declan Doyle is just getting his feet wet.

Quarterbacks coach J.T. Barrett followed Johnson from Detroit to Chicago, and that's without mentioning the other names who've been linked to the Bears. Unfortunately, the newest name on the list will likely disappoint fans.

Bears Rumors: Chicago Set to Interview Florida's Gerald Chatman

On Saturday, CBS Sports' Matt Zenitz reported that the Bears have an interview scheduled with Florida defensive line coach and assistant Gerald Chatman. The meeting is for Chicago's vacant DL coach job, which opened when the team dismissed ex-HC Matt Eberflus and his staff at the end of the regular season.

Bears fans might be somewhat confused as to why the team is interviewing Chatman. After all, KPRC 2 Houston's Aaron Wilson reported on Thursday that the team was hiring Bill Johnson as its DL coach.

It didn't take long for Chicago Tribune's Brad Biggs to clarify that Johnson will be taking on a secondary coaching role, meaning the DL job is still wide open.

Still, you can't blame Bears supporters if they're disappointed about Chatman's potential hiring. Fans have wanted management to surround Ben Johnson with as much experience as possible for his first season behind an NFL bench. That's the opposite of what the latest interviewee brings to the table.

Chatman has spent the last decade coaching with most of that experience coming at the collegiate level. After working as a Texas A&M graduate assistant in 2015, the former Wisconsin-Oshkosh spent the summer of 2016 as a Denver Broncos coaching intern. He worked with Elon University and Tennessee State throughout the next three seasons until the Cincinnati Bengals hired him for a defensive assistant role in 2019.

Much to his dismay, the Bengals struggled defensively with Chatman in town, ranking 26th and 22nd in points allowed during his two-season tenure. He's been back in college ever since then, spending time with programs like LSU, Tulane, Colorado, and — most recently — Florida.

The Bears are looking to make some serious D-line improvements this offseason. Judging by his NFL experience (or lack thereof), Chatman isn't the right man to help with that goal — especially if he causes Chicago to take a step back.

Hopefully, the Bears re-evaluate the situation and interview more names before they make a final decision. Otherwise, the new era could potentially start on the wrong foot.

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