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.
It would really help if the Bears had a head coach who knew WHY a coordinator or coach is bad or good. Changing simply because you are desperate, losing games, or losing your job, really isn’t a good reasons for firing someone, particularly a guy who has moved his family cross country, but knowing WHY something isn’t working, allows a head coach to change the direction of a coach, players, or his team. At one point during Getsy’s first year, Getsy was ORDERED to install designed quarterback runs. He did and Fields was the leading rushing QB in the NFL.… Read more »
Brown could very well be mediocre. But he has been in inferior positions the head coaches and coordinators who are “the boss,” while being incoherent.
Let’s see what happens when he doesn’t have an imbecile standing on his neck. (Being “passing game coordinator” under Waldron, is either like being locked in the Tower of London, or he is absolutely incompetent – he either advised the passing game or was left in a dark room by himself)
We’ll see. Would be ironic if he were an offensive savant buried behind incompetent coordinators.
Pep Hamilton, former Bears coach and kicked off of Harbaugh ‘s Michigan, allowed Michigan to win a national championship be being fired from Michigan.
Waldron’s big problem was being unable to organize and focus the offense. Anyone who does that, can at least look better.
Which is all the Bears hope for.
It is pathetic that 4 years with 2-3 promising quarterbacks, the Bears offensive staff looks like this.
OC Brown reminds me of somebody extremely close and very dear to me. Why? He thinks very fast, speaks fast, and behaves fast. I would love to have a chess match with him either in Halas Hall or at a sports bar. Can he help the Bears do the seemingly impossible to prevent a shutout or massacre on Sunday? If he does his part, then I shall do mine.
@eddie the basque People know I dislike straying from football here, but I really enjoy every part of Spain and France, particularly the Basque Land regions. San Sebastian has the best “tapas” too. I usually stay in the old town part next to the oldest church and bars. Been there?