How the Chicago Bears coaching change affects Caleb Williams

Thomas Brown has emerged as a bright spot on the Chicago Bears’ coaching staff over the past three weeks during the most difficult stretches of a tumultuous season.

Now the Bears will see if his direct style can make an even bigger impact as interim head coach.

Brown received his third title in less than four weeks on Friday after the Bears fired coach Matt Eberflus with five games left this season and two more years left on his contract.

Given the work Brown has done as interim offensive coordinator since the Week 11 game against the Green Bay Packers, this is certainly a risk. The continued development of rookie quarterback Caleb Williams is the most important thing at Halas Hall leading up to Black Monday, when the Bears are estimated to be alongside at least a half-dozen other teams in the search for a new head coach. The New Orleans Saints and New York Jets have already fired their coaches this season.

Adding responsibilities to Brown’s workload complicates a chaotic season for the Bears, who are 4-8 and in the midst of a six-game losing streak. Brown will have to move from the dugout — where he played by a total of seven points in three straight losses to NFC North rivals — to the sidelines, where a lot more will happen than just what’s on his call sheet.

Brown has the weekend to come up with a plan before the players return to Halas Hall on Monday. Defensive coordinator Eric Washington is expected to replace Eberflus in directing plays for the defense, something he last did in 2018 when he worked for Ron Rivera with the Carolina Panthers. It remains to be seen whether Brown has any further personnel changes in mind.

Optics are important, and the Bears haven’t looked worse in a long time – which is really saying something.

It’s one thing to be hounded around regionally for their division woes and the lopsided defeats they’ve suffered at the hands of the Packers for years. Only six teams have had fewer wins since the start of the 2011 season, when George McCaskey became chairman. Even in their arduous search for a franchise quarterback, the Bears have largely avoided direct comparisons to some of this group’s perennial losers, such as the New York Jets, Cleveland Browns, Las Vegas Raiders and Jacksonville Jaguars.

Then, in the final 32 seconds of Thursday’s nationally televised game in Detroit, they became the butt of jokes around the league and were pilloried by the most impartial analysts. After a second-down sack by Williams at the Lions’ 41-yard line, the Bears ran just one play and left Ford Field with a timeout in the bag, missing the chance to score a game-winning field goal.

Week 13 Photos: Detroit Lions 23, Chicago Bears 20 at Detroit on Thanksgiving

Eberflus stumbled over an explanation of the operation after the game. Perhaps part of it was to avoid criticism of players who were complicit, but there was nothing he could say that justified not using the time off.

The players were angry afterwards.

“I feel like we did enough as players to win the game,” wide receiver Keenan Allen said.

“Poor coaching on their part,” Lions safety Brian Branch said.

Eberflus can now be found in all sorts of memes making fun of the Bears, and it’s unfortunate that the team didn’t act sooner on Friday. Instead, he was forced to fulfill his media obligation the day after the game – and again failed to understand the game’s end schedule – before being told he was fired.

There are many fair ways to criticize Eberflus, but he made the squad play hard during an extended losing streak, and that was no accident.

Brown has been a presence in front of the offense over the last three weeks, providing what the players were looking for – someone to hold them accountable. He’s equally adept at answering questions at the podium, and that will be a welcome change for at least a month or so after Eberflus’ media sessions turned into weekly witch hunts as the team found increasingly difficult ways to get through the last few to fail in just a few moments.

Running back Roschon Johnson used one word — “faith” — to describe what Brown brought to the offense after replacing Shane Waldron. Tight end Cole Kmet said he appreciated Brown’s easy communication and detailed demands.