He has previously served as offensive coordinator for the Oakland Raiders and Tennessee Titans as well as an assistant coach for the New York Jets, Minnesota Vikings, Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions, and St. Louis Rams.

[2] While coaching at his high school, the Eagles won the Class 5A state title in 2000 over Matt Birk's Cretin Derham Hall Raiders.

[1] After being offered an internship in 2001 by Chad Ostlund in Research and Development for the Minnesota Vikings, Downing was a Public Relations intern for 2002,[3] a football systems analyst from 2003 to 2004, and offensive quality control coach in 2005.

[8] On January 29, 2021, Downing was promoted to offensive coordinator, replacing Arthur Smith, who departed to become the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons two weeks prior.

[11][12][13] On February 13, 2023, Downing was hired by the New York Jets as their passing game coordinator under head coach Robert Saleh.

This decision was made by interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich, following the firing of Robert Saleh.