The Hand Thomas Brown Can Play When Bears Give Interview

It might seem Thomas Brown's 0-4 start as interim head coach would disqualify him in the Bears' hunt for a permanent head coach but he does have a few edges over others.

It's easy to discount Thomas Brown's chances for becoming Bears head coach but he does hold some advantages over others. / Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images

When the Bears lost to Seattle and scored three points, Thomas Brown's chances of converting his interim status to head football coach for 2025 reached next to zero.

An 0-4 record doesn't jump out and say "hire me." The 45 points scored in the four-game stretch looked like something a Terry Shea Bear offense would produce.

Then came Sunday and beating Green Bay while scoring 24 points showed he can't be taken lightly. After all, Matt Eberflus never did it and Matt Nagy only did it once.

With all of the big names being lined up for interviews, including now according to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, Baltimore's Todd Monken, Brown's candidacy must be taken seriously for several reasons.

Caleb: “Can we throw down field?”

Brown: “No silly, you throw towards the sideline.”

— Ron Maday (@RonMaday) January 5, 2025

1. Head Start

Brown has the built-in advantage on other candidates.

“I've already begun that dialogue starting five weeks ago when I first took over in the interim head coach role, as far as my thoughts of the roster, the personnel of the guys in the locker room, the ability of players," Brown said.

Brown can formulate a plan with the inside information of what's actually been wrong with the team. It's not superficial stuff anyone can get by simply looking on Twitter or at some wonky website.

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Brown knows the players, their weaknesses and strengths and the plan he puts forth when he gets to interview for the job should possess far more detail than the outsiders who pop onto the video interview or get to meet live with Ryan Poles.

"I think them having a chance to see me in the building is something that to me, should be more impressive with everything else," Poles said.

Thomas Brown should have never left the box. He is still a coordinator at this point in his career.

I think the Bears did him wrong by rushing him.

— Just Another Year Chicago: Bears (@JAYChi_Bears) January 5, 2025

2. Brown's Gritty Approach

In one season, he went from passing game coordinator to suddenly offensive coordinator and then head coach. While they could win only one game, they came within four points of winning four others. Three of those were against playoff teams and the fourth against Seattle, which was battling for a playoff spot.

"The situation I had a chance to take over having three different jobs in the same season, which I'm not sure that's happened before in the history of football," Brown said. "It may have been, I might be being dramatic, but you (media) guys can Google that and look at it. I haven't heard of it."

Normally an interium head coach comes from someone serving as offensive, defensive or special teams coordinator, or from assistant head coach. It's not common at all for an offensive coordinator to be fired as Shane Waldron was, then then get replaced by a passing game coordinator who eventually gets named interim.

Go ahead and cancel the Thomas Brown interview.

— Shayne L. Marsaw (@wasram) January 5, 2025

3. Different Offense

Brown would not be taking over the team and simply continuing the offense they finished the season running. And he'll have a chance to pitch what it is to Poles.

This offense was the creation of Shane Waldron, a variation of the Sean McVay attack. Brown's offense would have elements of McVay's, no doubt. McVay is a mentor. This is part of the reason the 45 points in four games should hurt his bid less. It's more difficult to run someone else's attack but a team can't change midstream.

I wouldn't be mad as long as they'd done a thorough search. This offense wasn't his. There was only so much he could do.

— Hayes N' DiNozzo (@HayesNDiNozzo) January 6, 2025

So how different would it look than the attack Caleb Williams ran that they've been using?

"A lot different," Brown said.

4. Caleb Williams Connection

Williams has said he wants to be coached hard. Brown has been doing it and would continue to do so. The seed for the QB-coach connection has already sprouted, or at least taken root.

"I think from one standpoint he's been through a season already, so there are some growing pains he's already worked through," Brown said. "Just from a foundational standpoint, as far as the work in the offseason, I think if you want to be a great team, want to be a great quarterback, want to be a great player in general, it's built in the offseason."

And with that victory for Thomas Brown, Matt Eberflus remains the only Chicago Bears head coach to never beat the Green Bay Packers.

— Bill Zimmerman (@BillTZimmerman) January 5, 2025

Brown headed off the next question by pointing out he has an advantage in taking the offense a step farther and advance Williams the next step while other coaches coming in would be putting their new offense in place and establishing their own ties with him.

"Understanding more about him and how he learns and how to communicate with him, also, what he needs to be at his best will be different because I have a chance to address that and approach that from Day 1. Just overall his growth and development as far as a player will grow. It would naturally be better because of that too."

I’ll say this man — I am very happy for Thomas Brown. The man was put in an awful situation by his incompetent bosses and did the best he could. And that included something no #Bears HC has done in nearly a decade. Win in Green Bay. Congrats to him.

— Patrick Sheldon (@P_Shels) January 6, 2025

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