For Thomas Brown, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime. But all he’s thinking about right now is preparing the Bears to play the 49ers on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.
Yeah, right.
Brown, 38, already has the coach-speak down in his fourth day as the Bears’ interim head coach after Matt Eberflus was fired Friday. But nobody’s ultimate job in the NFL is to be the interim coach.
“Every job I’ve had that’s led me to the future is based on the current work I do, so that’s all I care about,” Brown said. “I’m not worried about what happens in five weeks. I really don’t. It’s not even in my thought process.”
Although he’s currently a long-shot candidate for the full-time job, Brown has the wind at his back as he attempts — one week at a time, of course — to bypass more enticing candidates.
For one, he’s not Eberflus. But he also inherits a relatively favorable situation for an interim coach. Not only is quarterback Caleb Williams on a roll and arguably the best thing the Bears have going for them, but Brown is a big reason why. Williams has a 99.2 passer rating (five touchdowns, no interceptions) in the three games Brown spent as offensive coor-dinator before Eberflus was ousted.
And the Bears’ roster, while certainly flawed, is built to win rather than headed for a rebuild. The Bears (4-8) have lost six consecutive games, but four of those were lost on the final play.
Coaching was the difference in every one of those losses, which is where Brown comes in. To win the interview for the long-term job, he has to win games. And although his work with Williams is critical, he has to be more than just a quarterback whisperer.
With a no-nonsense, straight-forward approach, he already has the presence for this job, even after being a position coach for most of his NFL career. He quickly tied up loose ends Monday:
He will still call plays.
He will work from the field instead of the press box.
He promoted wide receivers coach Chris Beatty to offensive coordinator — Williams’ third offensive coordinator in 13 games.
And defensive coordinator Eric Washington will call defensive plays with Eberflus gone. Richard Hightower remains special-teams coordinator.
“I am not a micromanager,” Brown said.
He said he’ll still be “heavily involved” in Williams’ development, including helping to run quarterback meetings with quarterbacks coach Kerry Joseph.
“A few more things that I’ve put on my plate, but that won’t change at all,” Brown said in regard to his work with Williams.
He can best show off his qualifications for the long-term job by fixing the issues that triggered Eberflus’ demise — issues he addressed with his players Monday in his first meeting with them as head coach.
“I talked about making sure our house is right,” Brown said. “The initial goal is to unify this football team. Everybody’s on the same accord, moving in the same direction, speaking the same language and attacking with effort. No more divisions.”
Brown also emphasized discipline, including avoiding penalties.
“Pre-snap penalties kind of boil down to a lack of focus,” he said. “Post-snap penalties are a lack of attention to detail when it comes to techniques. We need to do a better job as coaches to coach it the right way, pre-snap and post-snap penalties. If we do that, our guys will execute when it’s time to execute.”
Eberflus acknowledged the same issues but wasn’t able to do anything about them. Will Brown be any more effective? He has a head start with the players’ support. But they have to not only like him, — they have to play for him.
If he can command that kind of respect, he’ll get more than a token interview for the permanent job.