The cost of becoming a good football team is losing key pieces of your coaching staff in the offseason.
For the Chicago Bears, those pieces included offensive coordinator Declan Doyle and running backs coach Eric Bieniemy. With Doyle and Bieniemy, among others, taking promotions from other teams, replacements for head coach Ben Johnson's offensive staff were necessary, and those replacements were announced on Wednesday.
Press Taylor will be the new offensive coordinator in Chicago, Eric Studesville will take Bieniemy's old position, Will Lawing will be a new offensive analyst, and Isaiah Ford will be an offensive quality coach. While it's unclear exactly how much influence these coaches will have on the offense, given how much control Johnson has over it, their voices could be heard when it comes to personnel decisions.
In fact, Lawing's arrival may be just what Bears tight end Cole Kmet needed to sustain his career in Chicago.
It's Now or Never for Cole Kmet After Bears Hire Will Lawing
The role of "offensive analyst" doesn't exactly excite most casual Bears fans, but if there's one thing they've learned at this point, it's to trust Johnson.
Johnson obviously brought in Lawing for a reason, and Chicago's intriguing tight end room may be part of that reason. Previously, Lawing was an offensive coordinator and tight ends coach at Boston College. Now taking over as an offensive analyst for the Bears, Lawing can provide Kmet with his last — and best — chance to prove himself as a Bear.
While it feels like he was drafted much more recently, Kmet just finished his sixth season in a Bears uniform. He's had a few solid seasons in Chicago; however, his production has seriously declined in the 2024 and 2025 seasons. By this point, most guys in this position would be shipped out of town, especially given Bears' rookie tight end Colston Loveland's emergence in the offense, but Kmet has given the Bears reasons to give him one final chance.
Being able to consistently stay healthy is invaluable, and Kmet has shown this over the years, missing only one game since 2020. He's also an excellent blocker, allowing only 24 pressures across 421 pass-blocking downs, per Pro Football Focus.
Despite his blocking prowess, Kmet's offensive production must improve if he wants to stay in the Windy City. He will carry a $11.6 million cap hit in the next two seasons, according to Spotrac, which will age worse with time if he can't improve on the underwhelming 30-347-2 stat line he posted in 16 appearances last season.
Considering how the Bears can create $9 million in cap space with a post-June 1 trade/cut, it's easy to see why moving on won't be hard if Kmet can't take advantage of Lawing's arrival.
Just as all hope was fading for Kmet, he caught Caleb Williams' miracle throw to send the Bears to overtime against the Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round. This ignited a spark for Kmet and Bears fans alike, and perhaps Lawing can use his tight end expertise to navigate that spark and turn Kmet into a new and refurbished part of Johnon's offense.
The hometown kid deserves one final chance in Chicago, and Lawing is just the guy to provide him with it.