New Chicago Bears head coach Thomas Brown had his first press conference on Monday. It was refreshing and impressive seeing him take accountability right from the start.
Well, the Thomas Brown era as head coach of the Chicago Bears has officially begun. Brown held his first press conference since getting the job after Matt Eberflus was fired after another blunder in their Thanksgiving Day game against the Detroit Lions.
Brown has had a whirlwind three weeks. He went from passing game coordinator to the offensive coordinator and now head coach. What helped him is the support he has had from the Chicago Bears players. After the firing of offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, the players said they wanted someone who was a strong presence.
Waldron, said the players, was too nice of a guy. He would not go after them when they made mistakes. These are Type-A personalities and they need a coach who can get at them. Brown is a no nonsense coach who will not only be hard on the players when they screw up but also lift them up when they do well.
We have seen the improvement in the offense with Brown in charge. In Waldron’s last three games, the Chicago Bears offense averaged nine points per game and 230 total yards. In the three games with Brown running the offense, however, those numbers went up to 22 points and 363.3 yards per game.
© Kimberly P. Mitchell / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Now Brown will take over the entire team. He has five games to show that he can turn things around. The odds are against him since the Chicago Bears have the toughest schedule to end the season. He is determined, though. He wants to take full advantage of the opportunity given to him.
Brown already making an impression
In his first press conference, Thomas Brown made an impression. He quickly took some accountability for what has happened despite not being in charge. He noted that the offense needs to start quicker. Additionally, he spoke about how the loss is a team loss.
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While Eberflus tried to put the blame of the Thanksgiving fiasco on rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, Brown said everyone had a hand in the loss, including himself. They win as a team and they lose as a team. He said he wanted the team to embody the three abilities — coachability, responsibility, and accountability.
I know there’s a lot of scrutiny, talk, dialogue about what’s happened at the end of some of these games. I am not exempt from responsibility in those actions.
The word ‘team’ — I believe in doing things together. We get rewarded together, we also get criticized together. So we will have an internal process we’ll go through on a weekly basis to prepare ourselves for those opportunities. And on game day, we’ll execute.
Brown acknowledged that everyone is focused on what happened in the closing seconds. However, he said there were plenty of times the offense had opportunities to execute. Perhaps if they did earlier in the game, the final seconds might not matter.
Brown went on to say that it does not matter now what happened. Those decisions are in the past. All they can do now is use those situations as a learning experience. That was something Eberflus did not do. He continued to make the same errors game after game. Brown wants to avoid that.
Brown announced that he will still call the plays during games. Now that he is responsible for the entire team, though, he needs help with the offense. That is why he announced that wide receivers coach Chris Beatty is now the offensive coordinator. He will do most of the day-to-day operations and have input on the game plan.
© Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
Bears interim head coach Thomas Brown will still call plays. Chris Beatty elevated from WRs coach to OC.
TB’s message to team today: “The initial goal is to unify this football team. … Coachability, accountability, dependability. That’s all of us. Myself included.” pic.twitter.com/aRwK7jUEhV
— Jori Epstein (@JoriEpstein) December 2, 2024
Brown is saying all the right things. He is looking forward to taking on the challenge of righting the ship. We already saw the impact he had when he became offensive coordinator. Now let’s see if he does the same as head coach.
While the task ahead may be difficult, Brown is confident. This week’s game is against the struggling San Francisco 49ers. The Niners have a laundry list of key players that are injured. They also have a game against the up and down Seattle Seahawks.
Additionally, they have rematches against all of their NFC North rivals. They already showed they could compete with them and should have beaten them the first time. They have the confidence to feel that those games are winnable. That confidence will be higher if Brown shows that he is up for the job.
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