The Chicago Bears are in somewhat uncharted territory. They have never fired an offensive coordinator in the middle of a season before. That should tell you how bad things were with Shane Waldron following three games of 27 combined points and two straight games with no touchdowns. Head coach Matt Eberflus had to do something. In the end, he was forced to fire Waldron, replacing him with passing game coordinator Thomas Brown. Plenty of people aren’t swayed by the move. It is hard to imagine Brown being able to revive an offense that appears down for the count.
Former Bears coach Chuck Pagano isn’t so sure. He was Eberflus’ place at one point. In 2015, he replaced offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton in the middle of the season with Rob Chudzinski. The move was highly questioned at the time. However, Pagano felt it was best for the team. They were 3-5, losers of three straight, and had committed 19 turnovers in eight games. Pagano explained what happened on The Pat McAfee Show.
Thomas Brown can do what Chudzinski did.
While he didn’t have the Colts scoring a ton more points than Hamilton, he did manage to drastically improve their efficiency. Indianapolis had only nine turnovers in the second half of the season. As a result, the team went 5-3 to finish 8-8 and narrowly missed winning the division over Houston. The next season, the Colts ranked 8th in points and 10th in yards. That is not to say Thomas Brown will transform the Bears into a juggernaut. Instead, his different voice and more demanding approach might be what this unit needs to snap out of its funk. Change is scary, but it can also be liberating. That is what the Colts discovered nine years ago. Pagano seems to think it can happen for the Bears, too.
This article is a reach. Of course anything is possible. But let’s be honest, Brown taking over in the middle of the season with no time to really change anything… I just hope his play calling is more consistent then Woldrons. If he can design plays to their strengths we have a chance to win a few games. Clearly we need to run the ball better and it starts up front. How do we get this raggedy OLine to hold a block for more then 2 seconds?