Will Bears’ Coordinator Change Impact Rivalry Game vs. Packers?

Adding another wrinkle to Sunday’s game between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears at Soldier Field is Chicago making a big change at offensive coordinator. Thomas Brown had a big day against Green Bay last year.

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams, who was sacked nine times by the Patriots, will get his first shot at the Packers on Sunday. / Mike Dinovo-Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Chicago Bears, who were chic Super Bowl contenders at the start of the season, fired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron on Tuesday.

Thomas Brown, who had been the team’s passing-game coordinator, has been promoted to offensive coordinator, meaning he will be designing the game plan and calling the plays for Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers.

More than that, he’ll be trying to salvage rookie quarterback Caleb Williams’ season.

Brown was a first-time offensive coordinator last year for the Carolina Panthers.

Carolina’s offense was horrific – last in the league in scoring, yards and passing yards – with one exception.

Against the Packers.

On Christmas Eve, the Packers survived what would have been a season-killing upset by winning at Carolina 33-30.

The Panthers rallied from a 30-16 deficit in the fourth quarter with back-to-back touchdown drives capped by Bryce Young scoring passes to D.J. Chark against Eric Stokes. Green Bay won on Anders Carlson’s 32-yard field goal with 19 seconds to go.

In the two games before that matchup, the Panthers scored 15 points and zero touchdowns.

In the two games after that matchup, the Panthers didn’t score at all.

Against Green Bay, Carolina delivered its best offensive performance by …

Points (30; they fell short of 20 points in 13 games).

Yards (394; they had only three other games of 300-plus yards).

Yards per play (6.3; their best by a full yard).

Of note, Williams was the No. 1 pick of this year’s draft and Bryce Young was the No. 1 pick of last year’s draft.

Against Green Bay, Young threw for a season-high 312 yards. It was his only game of 250-plus yards. His 110.0 passer rating was also his best of the season and one of just four games with a 90-plus rating. His 8.67 yards per attempt was his best of the year by almost 1.1 yards.

Young threw two touchdown passes against Green Bay, his only scoring strikes in his final seven games.

Of course, Green Bay’s defense has a different coordinator and some different personnel, especially in the secondary. Brown, however, designed a plan that was effective against Jaire Alexander and Keisean Nixon; according to PFF, Young was 9-of-9 passing for 146 yards against those starting defensive backs.   

It will be up to Brown to get Williams – and the Bears – back on track, starting against the rival Packers.

“After evaluating our entire operation, I decided that it is in the best interest of our team to move in a different direction with the leadership of our offense,” Bears coach Matt Eberflus said in a statement. “This decision was well-thought-out, one that was conducted deliberately and respectfully. I would like to thank Shane for his efforts and wish him the best moving forward.

“Thomas is a bright offensive mind who has experience calling plays with a collaborative mindset. I look forward to his leadership over our offensive coaching staff and his plan for our players.”

Chicago has lost three in a row. It scored 15 points in the loss at Washington, nine points in the loss at Arizona and three points in the home loss to New England.

The Bears have gone 23 consecutive possessions without scoring a touchdown.

Williams, one of the most-hyped quarterback prospects in years, was supposed to be the franchise’s savior. Chicago surrounded him with a potentially elite group of skill-position players. Already featuring receiver D.J. Moore and tight end Cole Kmet, the Bears signed receiver Keenan Allen and running back D’Andre Swift in free agency and used their first-round pick on receiver Rome Odunze.

The Bears, however, rank 30th in total offense, 31st in yards per play, 28th in rushing per play and 30th in passing per play. They are 31st on third down.

Critically, Chicago has allowed the highest-sack percentage in the NFL.

The Bears were 4-0 at home before losing to the Patriots. After a shaky NFL debut in Chicago’s win over Tennessee, Williams in his next three home starts had passer ratings of 106.6, 126.2 and 124.4.

Against New England, though, he was 16-of-30 passing (53.3 percent) for 120 yards and a 63.2 rating. He didn’t turn over the ball but was sacked nine times.

Williams enters Sunday’s game against the Packers ranked 28th in passer rating, 32nd in completion percentage and 31st in yards per attempt.

Williams has been sacked a league-high 38 times. He will be facing a Packers defense that had eight sacks against Tennessee in Week 3 but has just one sack in each of the last two games.

“We all can hope for one of those type of games, a repeat of Tennessee. Fingers crossed,” defensive end Kingsley Enagbare said.

Brown is a former running backs coach at Wisconsin. With the Badgers, he helped Melvin Gordon become Heisman Trophy runner-up in 2014. That season, Gordon and Corey Clement combined for 3,536 rushing yards – most in FBS history for teammates.

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