If Bears take play calling from OC Shane Waldron, next in line likely is assistant Thomas Brown
If the Bears are ready to move on from offensive coordinator Shane Waldron as play caller, either by firing or demoting him, the most likely replacement is passing game coordinator Thomas Brown.
The Bears ideally wouldn’t be in this position to begin with, especially after general manager Ryan Poles and coach Matt Eberflus went through such a thorough hiring process to pick Waldron, but their offense hit rock bottom Sunday in a 19-3 loss to the Patriots.
Eberflus deflected questions Monday morning in an ESPN 1000 segment, saying he would decide on a play caller by Wednesday.
Brown, 38, has play-calling experience and would maintain some continuity for rookie quarterback Caleb Williams. He was the Panthers’ offensive coordinator and called plays for part of last season, though it’s difficult to grade that performance given that organization’s general dysfunction under owner David Tepper, who fired coach Frank Reich in the middle of the season and general manager Scott Fitterer at the end of it.
The Panthers, with rookie quarterback Bryce Young, scored a league-low 13.9 points per game and finished 2-15.
Brown also was the offensive coordinator at the University of Miami from 2016 through ’18. The Hurricanes finished sixth, fifth and ninth in the ACC in scoring in his three seasons.
He has been at the forefront of Williams’ development, and made his most resounding comment on coaching him early in the season when he encouraged an aggressive mentality by saying, “You can’t be scared to throw the football and take chances. You would never make any plays.”
All instability in the coaching staff is bad for onboarding Williams, but he was unfazed Sunday when Eberflus left open the possibility of changing play callers.
“They’re not going to reinvent the wheel,” he said. “That’s not a decision for me. I have to do what Coach says and deal with whatever decision he makes and I have to be fine with it.
“Will I be able to adapt? Yes, I will. We will be able to adapt to whatever decision he makes, and from there we have to be able to go out and execute and win games.”
The Bears have scored 27 points over their last three games and have gone 23 consecutive possessions without a touchdown. They are 24th in points (19.4 per game) and 30th in yardage (277.7 per game).
