The inevitable happened. The Chicago Bears fired head coach Matt Eberflus, fewer than 24 hours after his abject lack of clock management scuttled a possible comeback win over the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving.
That leaves Thomas Brown to step into the breach for his second firing-based promotion of 2024. Brown began his first season with Chicago as Eberflus’s passing game coordinator. A three-game losing streak led the Bears to fire offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, moving the former NFL running back up to interim offensive coordinator. Three more losses ousted Eberflus, leaving Brown in charge of the whole operation over the final five weeks of the season.
Who is Thomas Brown, and what can he bring to the Bears’ offense?
Brown was a freshman All-SEC tailback at the University of Georgia who racked up more than 3,000 yards of total offense and 25 touchdowns in four seasons at a Bulldog. That resume made him a sixth round pick for the Atlanta Falcons in 2008. He spent three seasons in the NFL but failed to record any stats in stints with Atlanta and the Cleveland Browns.
After retiring, he entered the coaching ranks at Tennessee-Chattanooga in 2012 and spent the next eight years bouncing around different Power 5 staffs, including the Universities of Wisconsin, Miami and South Carolina as well as his alma mater. He got a bit of the Sean McVay rub by spending 2020 to 2022 coaching running backs, then tight ends, for the Los Angeles Rams.
That led him to a promotion with the Carolina Panthers, where he served as Frank Reich’s offensive coordinator for the team’s ill-fated 2023. Reich was fired after 11 games and Brown moved on to Chicago, where he had the chance to mold the top overall pick as a rookie for the second straight season.
Brown’s tenure so far has provided moments of success in a small sample size. Caleb Williams has thrived with Brown as his primary play caller, operating a system of quick throws and a directive to use his legs to extend drives with the skill you’d expect from a former Heisman Trophy winner. But Thursday’s game against the Lions saw Chicago’s offense stagnate for 30 minutes before finally coming alive in the second half, where the Bears scored all 20 of their points.
Now he’s got a chance to stage another late rally. The Bears have the personnel to surge without Eberflus’s frustrating leadership on the sideline. A strong finish could lead to the full time job, like it did for Antonio Pierce and the Las Vegas Raiders. Or it may lead to nothing, like Steve Wilks’s 5-3 record to wrap up 2022 with the Panthers — a dismissal that led to Brown’s first coordinator job to begin with.
If Brown can continue to push Williams toward his potential — likely with a litany of short passes to mitigate his time in the pocket, designed roll-outs and runs and the occasional deep ball that crushes opposing secondaries — he could build a compelling case as Chicago’s full-time head coach. Five weeks may not be enough time to build out his resume enough to convince the Bears, however.