Bears reportedly request to interview David Blough |
Now that Ben Johnson has officially named Dennis Allen and Declan Doyle as his offensive and defensive coordinators for the upcoming season, a massive weight has been lifted off his shoulders. After all, these are the most critical hires to his staff, and it will fall on them to get this franchise turned around quickly.
While those two coaches will play the biggest role in getting the Bears back on track, you can't forget Johnson's remaining coaching openings. Adding Antwaan Randle-El and JT Barrett as both the Wide Receivers and Quarterbacks coach was another big step, but there are other areas that Johnson needs to square away. One of those areas was the position held by Thomas Brown in 2024. The Bears are looking for a new passing game coordinator. This person will be in charge of passing the game and assisting in the day-to-day operations of game planning. Although things have been quiet on that front, it does appear that Johnson has his sights set on a specific candidate and has requested an Interview with David Blough. As the assistant quarterback coach for the Washington Commanders, you have to like what Jayden Daniels has become, and Blough played a massive role in his development. Adding him to this staff would pair him with another young quarterback, Caleb Williams, hoping he can turn out an even better showing in 2025. Unlike many coaches who have logged decades of experience, Blough is just finishing up his first year after a short NFL playing career. The 29-year-old played for Kliff Kingsbury in Arizona as Kyler Murray's backup, and when he retired, he elected to follow his former coach to Washington. In the end, it was a move well worth it, as Blough is garnering the attention of the Bears and several other teams. Although a limited sample size in his playing career, Blough did see time on the field when Murray went down as he completed 38-58 for 402 yards. He added two touchdowns while throwing two interceptions, which was the most successful time of his four-year NFL career. Before his time with the Cardinals, Blough spent one season in Detroit after being an undrafted free agent by the Cleveland Browns in 2019. His opportunity shouldn't have surprised anyone, as he had a decorated collegiate career with the Purdue Boilermakers, during which he threw for nearly 10,000 yards and 70 touchdowns in four seasons. His success never translated to the NFL, but he can, at the very least, say he was an NFL player who had an opportunity to start. Blough played a mentorship role to Murray during his time in Arizona and a massive role in helping Daniels put up the numbers he piled up this season. Given Johnson's desire to hire a young and upcoming coach in Doyle as his offensive coordinator, he values youth and potential, with Blough falling under that category. Johnson is expected to be the play-caller and the architect of the entire offense, but even he can't do that alone. His ultimate goal in finding an offensive coordinator was to find someone who could take a significant chunk of the game-planning process off his plate and allow him to call the offense and oversee the other two phases. Blough won't be the one constructing the game plan, but he will be one of the many coaches involved in the game planning should the Bears bring him in. Given Blough's experience as a quarterback and what he could do with a young quarterback in Daniels, you can see why Johnson is willing to give him an interview.
