Chicago Bears could find working with interim coach Thomas Brown different than with Matt Eberflus

LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — Matt Eberflus’ firing by the Chicago Bears on Friday after the botched finish in a 23-20 loss to the Detroit Lions only slightly impacts the team’s most important goal this season.

Now at 4-8, this Bears season has been all about developing quarterback Caleb Williams as much as possible. Losing their head coach and defensive play caller, with a 14-32 career record, carries less significance for Williams.

Offensive coordinator Thomas Brown has been key in Williams’ improvement and now Brown is the interim head coach besides being the play caller.

It has been apparent since Brown took over as offensive coordinator for the fired Shane Waldron that they had a coach with a more fiery personality than Eberflus.

“I’m a pretty direct person,” Brown said last week about being the Chicago OC.

Brown has never been a head coach but his coaching style was obvious when he took over as coordinator after Waldron’s firing. He’ll try to bring a high-energy coaching style to the full team in much the way he did with Williams.

“So I think that can come off different ways to different people, but he (Williams) is not soft, which I appreciate,” Brown said. “Me and soft people sometimes don’t always see eye to eye, get along.”

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In the three games since Brown took over as offensive coordinator, Williams has completed 75 of 117 for 827 yards with five touchdowns, no interceptions and a passer rating of 99.2. Prior to Brown’s hiring, Williams had a passer rating of 81.0 with nine TD passes and five interception.

The 99.2 passer rating came against tougher NFC North opponents.

What Brown needs to work on with Williams and the whole team is obvious after they’ve lost three heartbreakers to NFC North teams and had rallies come up short in each game.

“We’ve been in many of these games where we were down and, you know, came back from 16, 10, you know, all these different scores,” Williams said. “And so, you know, we have belief in ourselves and to be able to go out there and do that.”

Now Brown needs to bring better finishes out of them than they had under Eberflus.

What’s working

The passing attack. Even with five more sacks and an NFL high of 49 for Williams this year, they managed to upgrade their attack in the second half against Detroit for three touchdown passes. Williams set an NFL rookie record for consecutive passes without an interception, breaking Kyler Murray’s mark of 211. He broke it on a 31-yard TD pass to Keenan Allen in the third quarter. Williams’ mark is now at 232 straight passes without an interception. His five TD passes in two weeks brought his season total to 14, a Bears rookie record.

What needs help

The run defense. Detroit ran for 144 of its 197 in the first half to pile up its big lead. The Bears have struggled all year stopping the run, but especially after losing defensive tackle Andrew Billings for the year to a torn pectoral muscle in Week 8. They are 30th in yards allowed per rush heading into the weekend’s games.

Stock up

Keenan Allen. The veteran wide receiver’s five catches for 73 and two TDs upped his total since Brown took over play calling to 200 yards on 18 receptions. He has 44 catches for 441 yards and five TDs on the year.

Stock down

D’Andre Swift ran for just 39 yards on 11 carries as his yards per attempt dropped below 4.0 for the year.

Injuries

Right tackle Darnell Wright went out in the second half with a knee injury while Roschon Johnson went out with what was believed to be a concussion.

Williams also suffered a bruised left knee on a hit by Detroit linebacker Jack Campbell but did not need to leave the game.

Key number

3 — Eberflus’ Bears teams won three road games and none of them came this season. The last Bears road win came Nov. 27, 2023, over the Minnesota Vikings. They did win in London this year but were designated the home team on that day.

Next steps

Brown and defensive coordinator Eric Washington will have more than a week to work at their game plan because the Bears are off until their game on Dec. 8 against San Francisco.

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