Brian Callahan in 2020 enters his 11th NFL season, and his second in Cincinnati. He joined the Bengals as offensive coordinator prior to the 2019 season.
Callahan helped steer the offense to significant improvement throughout his first Bengals season, despite the absence of star WR A.J. Green and LOT Jonah Williams, the team's first-round draft pick, who both missed the entire season due to injuries. The most significant offensive improvement came on the ground, as Cincinnati's yards-per-game rushing average jumped 70.6 yards from the first half of the season (59.5) to the second (130.1). The team's average rushing yards per attempt also jumped 1.26 yards (3.17 to 4.43) over the final eight games.
In the passing game, each of the Bengals' top four WRs — Tyler Boyd, Alex Erickson, Auden Tate and John Ross III — posted career-highs in both receptions and receiving yards.
Prior to his arrival in Cincinnati, Callahan was quarterbacks coach for the Oakland Raiders in 2018. In Oakland, he helped QB Derek Carr to a career-high 4049 passing yards and a 93.9 passer rating. Carr also led the AFC in completion percentage (68.9), and ranked fourth in total completions (381).
Prior to his season in Oakland, Callahan was quarterbacks coach with the Detroit Lions from 2016-17. Over the course of his two years in Detroit, Lions QB Matthew Stafford ranked in the top-10 among NFL passers in TD passes (53), passing yards (8773), completions (759), completion percentage (65.5) and INT percentage (1.7).
In 2017, Stafford ranked third in the NFL in passing yards (4446) and fourth in passing TDs (29), while throwing a career-low 10 INTs. In 2016, Callahan's first in Detroit, he helped Stafford to an NFL-best eight fourth-quarter game-winning drives, the most by a signal caller in a single season since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger.
Callahan entered the NFL as a coach with the Denver Broncos, spending six years with the club in a multitude of offensive roles. He entered in 2010 as a coaching assistant, then moved to offensive quality control from '11-12, offensive assistant from '13-14, and offensive assistant/quarterbacks coach in '15.
During his run with the Broncos, Callahan helped mold one of the NFL's most potent offenses, which led the Broncos to five consecutive AFC West titles from 2011-15, including a Super Bowl 50 victory in 2015.
Callahan also helped the Broncos' offense to four consecutive seasons (2012-15) of 4000 passing yards. Denver's QB during Callahan's tenure was future Hall-of-Famer Peyton Manning, who during his time as a Bronco won the NFL MVP award (2013), two AFC titles ('13 and '15) and a Super Bowl title ('15). Callahan in 2013 helped the Broncos' offense to one of the top offensive seasons in league history, including an NFL-record 55 TD passes from Manning, an NFL-record 606 points, and league-best 457.3 yards per game (second-most in NFL history).
Callahan served as a coaching assistant with the Broncos in 2010, his first season as an NFL coach, but he was thrust into a more extensive role with the team's running backs after mid-season coaching staff changes.
Prior to joining the NFL coaching ranks, Callahan spent two years (2008-09) at Junipero Serra High School in nearby San Mateo, Calif., as the team's offensive coordinator and QBs coach. He broke into the coaching ranks from 2006-07, as a graduate assistant at UCLA — he served in football operations in '06, and then worked with the WRs in '07.
Callahan played collegiately at UCLA, where as a former walk-on QB he appeared in 13 games as a holder on PATs. He earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from UCLA in 2006, and a masters in education in '08.
The son of former Raiders head coach (2002-03) Bill Callahan, Brian Callahan was born in Champaign, Ill., but attended high school in California in the Bay Area. He was a two-year letter-winner at QB at De La Salle High School in Concord, Calif., where he was a part of the school's national-record 151-game winning streak and led the team to a No. 1 national ranking. Callahan and his wife, Allyson, have a son, Ronan, and daughter, Norah.
Playing and coaching experience: 2002-05—Played quarterback at UCLA. 2006-07—Graduate assistant coach, UCLA. 2010—Coaching assistant, Denver Broncos. 2011-15—Assistant coach (AC), Denver Broncos. 2016-17—AC, Detroit Lions. 2018—AC, Oakland Raiders. 2019-present—Offensive coordinator, Cincinnati Bengals.
