The Chicago Bears continued their interview process with interim head coach Thomas Brown for the permanent job on Monday, the team announced.
That decision was expressed by general manager Ryan Poles multiple times before the end of the season. But given how the campaign played out, and the sheer number of candidates, news of Brown’s meeting raised some eyebrows even it probably should not have.
Thomas Brown Navigated Impossible Path to Bears Interview
IHC Record (as OC): 2-18 (CHI: 0-3, CAR: 2-15)
Playoff Record: NA
Bears Put Thomas Brown Behind 8-Ball
Brown was hired to be the Bears’ passing game coordinator. He arrived highly regarded despite his tenure with the Carolina Panthers going poorly, with former boss Frank Reich giving Brown playcalling duties before taking them back soon after.
Carolina cleaned house last offseason and Brown was not retained.
He was elevated into the Bears’ offensive coordinator spot after his predecessor Shane Waldron was fired after Week 10.
Three straight one-score losses – all to the Bears’ NFC North rivals, the Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, and Minnesota Vikings – saw former head coach Matt Eberflus fired. The Bears again elevated Brown, who had never been a head coach at any level.
There was a clear hit to the offense, which was still running Waldron’s scheme.
Not only has Brown moved up two spots above where he was hired, but the Bears also elevated wide receivers coach Chris Beatty into the OC role vacated by the head coach swap.
Thomas Brown Went Out on High Note
Brown’s resume includes being a former sixth-round pick by the Atlanta Falcons. Injuries cut his playing days short, but he has worked his way up through the coaching ranks, and got as strong of an endorsement as one can get from Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay.
Two other things working for Brown. First, he seemed to form a connection with quarterback Caleb Williams in their short time working together and he beat the Green Bay Packers.
Brown will go through an exit interview with many/most of the players
— Josh Buckhalter (@JoshGBuck) January 6, 2025
We can parse through the circumstances of that game.
That, of course, leads to a similarly discerning eye on how the Bears suffered many of their losses this season. Brown’s situation got lost in the discourse about his future as the Bears’ season spiraled.
How much weight that final outing will hold in the grand scheme of things is unclear. That is especially true with the Bears interviewing so many candidates, and prominent ones at that.
But Brown did vow that his offense would look “much different” that the one he ran in 2024.
Brown’s career has taken him through the college ranks. The stops include his alma mater, Georgia. He also filled the seemingly key tight ends coach position with the Rams under McVay. A win over the Packers is a nice highlight on an otherwise moribund season.
The question Brown would have to answer is whether those points are more indicative of who and what he can be as a head coach than his record in that role and as OC would indicate.