As Chicago Bears president Kevin Warren and general manager Ryan Poles addressed the media on Monday, an NFC executive watched remotely with a slew of questions.
Why was this press conference delayed until three days after the Bears had fired head coach Matt Eberflus, the first in-season firing of a head coach in franchise history?
Why did the Bears not fire Eberflus after the Washington Commanders duped the Bears on a Hail Mary, and why did the franchise dismember the leadership group guiding first overall draft pick Caleb Williams’ rookie season, piece by piece?
Why, now, are the Bears reassigning the offensive coordinator spearheading Williams’ recent improvement?
Only three games have elapsed since Chicago fired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. Now the Bears have promoted Thomas Brown from passing game coordinator to offensive coordinator to interim head coach in less than a month.
The shuffling leaves Williams game-planning with his third offensive coordinator (albeit second play-caller) in just 13 professional games.
This was avoidable.
“In retrospect, if they were considering this, they should have promoted Thomas to head coach, kept Shane and had Thomas work with Shane to simplify [the] offense,” the NFC executive texted. “Do that weeks ago, post-Hail Mary debacle. Thomas, in his best element, has influence on offense but gets to focus on being head coach.”
The suggestion isn’t a knock on Brown’s performance as coordinator. After elevating Brown to play-caller, the Bears rose from 24th in offensive EPA to ninth the past three weeks, per TruMedia. The Bears’ offense jumped from 30th to 13th in total yards and from 31st to sixth in third-down conversions. Williams’ passer rating jumped from 79.3 under Waldron to 118.2 with Brown.
But in a season when the Bears’ No. 1 priority should be supporting and developing their franchise quarterback, the decision to shuffle Williams’ direct line of contact again raised eyebrows from multiple sources across the league.
Are the Bears risking Williams’ long-term development, and their franchise’s future in turn? Brown was in a position that did not communicate directly with Williams a month ago. Now, he’s the top line of communication for Williams — and all players and coaches.
Williams said he views the movement as an opportunity.
“I wouldn’t say that it will affect my development,” Williams said. “I think this is a stepping stone of development, to be able to have all of this in my first year. I wouldn’t say I'm happy for it. But having these moments is definitely something that will help me in the future.
“It’s not easy to keep going and roll with the punches and keep fighting. But you have to do it.”
The Bears will hope to fare better than another in-flux NFL team this year.
Jets took similar risk and collapsed. Will Bears?
In October, New York Jets owner Woody Johnson had an idea.
His franchise sat at 2-3, coming off an overseas loss that seemed to embarrass Johnson perhaps more while staged in the country for which he recently served as U.S. ambassador.
The Jets’ big-splash Aaron Rodgers acquisition wasn’t working. Their kicker was missing kicks. And even though they’d lost their last two games by one-score margins, they had still lost both.
So Johnson fired head coach Robert Saleh, who concluded his Jets tenure with a 20-36 (.357) record. The Jets promoted defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich to interim head coach, rewarding the strong-presence leader of the most successful unit on the team.