For Thomas Brown, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime. But all he’s thinking about right now is preparing the Bears to play the 49ers on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.
Yeah, right.
Brown already has the coach-speak down in his fourth day as the interim head coach of the Bears after Matt Eberflus was fired on Friday. But nobody’s ultimate job in the NFL is to be the interim head coach.
“Every job I’ve had that’s led me to the future is based on the current work I do. So that’s all I care about,” Brown said. “I’m not worried about what happens in five weeks. I really don’t. It’s not even in my thought process. It’s a waste of time.”
Though he’s a long shot candidate for the full-time job right now, Brown has the wind at his back as he attempts — one week at a time, of course — to bypass more enticing candidates.
For one, he’s not Eberflus, whose 46-game tenure ended with a house divided — Bears players in revolt after Eberflus botched the final 32 seconds of a 23-30 loss to the Lions on Thanksgiving Day at Ford Field.
But he also inherits a favorable situation relative to teams that fire their head coach. Not only is quarterback Caleb Williams on a roll and arguably the best thing the Bears have going for them, but Brown is a big reason why. Williams has a 99.2 passer rating (five touchdowns, no interceptions) in three games since replacing Shane Waldron as the Bears’ offensive coordinator. In Williams’ last three games under Waldron, Williams’ passer rating was 64.7 (no touchdowns, no interceptions.
And the Bears’ roster, while certainly flawed, overall is built to win rather than headed for a rebuild, with players in most positions who are expected to be on the next playoff team. The Bears are 4-8 with a six-game winning streak, but have lost four of those games on the final play.
Coaching has made the difference in every one of those six losses, which is where Brown comes in. To win the interview he has to win games. Though Brown’s work with Williams is critical, he has to be more than a quarterback-whisperer to become a legitimate candidate for the full-time job.
With a no-nonsense, straight-forward approach, Brown already has the presence of a coach built for this job, even though he’s been a position coach most of his NFL career. He quickly tied up loose ends Monday:
He will still call plays. He will work from the field instead of the press box (“I thought about it, though,” he said,). He promoted wide receivers coach Chris Beatty to offensive coordinator — technically Williams’ third offensive coordinator in 13 games in the NFL. And defensive coordinator Eric Washington will call plays, with Eberflus gone. Richard Hightower remains as special teams coordinator.
“I am not a micromanager,” Brown said.
And Brown will still be “heavily involved” in Williams’ development, including helping run quarterback meetings with quarterbacks coach Kerry Joseph. “A few more things that I’ve put on my plate, but that won’t change at all,” he said in regard to his work with Williams.
But he can show off his qualifications for the permanent job by fixing the issues that triggered Eberflus’ demise. And he addressed those with the team in his first meeting with them as head coach Monday.
“I talked about making sure our house is right. The initial goal is to unify this football team,” Brown said. “Everybody’s on the same accord, moving in the same direction, speaking the same language and attacking with effort. No more divisions.”
Brown also emphasized discipline, including penalties. “Pre-snap penalties kind of boil down to a lack of focus,” Brown said. “Post-snap penalties are a lack of attention to detail when it comes to techniques. We need to do a better job as coaches to coach it the right way.pre-snap and post-snap penalties. If we do that, our guys will execute when it’s time to execute.”
Eberflus acknowledged those same issues, but wasn’t able to do anything about them. Will Brown be any more effective? He has a head start with the players’ support. But they have to not only like him, they have to play for him. If he can command that kind of respect, he’ll get more than a token interview for the full-time job.