The Chicago Bears have a new interim head coach.
The Bears fired head coach Matt Eberflus after questionable clock management at the end of a Thanksgiving Day game against the Detroit Lions led to their sixth straight loss.
The team entered 2024 with great optimism after selecting quarterback Caleb Williams with the first overall pick. After starting the season 4-2, the Bears have lost six in a row, falling further away from a playoff spot. Their last three losses have come by a combined seven points.
Eberflus, who was hired before the 2022 season, finishes with a 14-32 record as the Bears’ head coach. This was his first time as an NFL head coach — he had been an NFL assistant since 2009.
So, who’s replacing Eberflus? Here’s everything you need to know about the team’s new interim head coach, Thomas Brown.
Thomas Brown’s Coaching Career
The Bears promoted Brown to interim offensive coordinator after firing offensive coordinator Shane Waldron after Week 10. Brown, 38, was hired during the 2024 offseason as Chicago’s passing-game coordinator.
A former running back with the Atlanta Falcons and Cleveland Browns, Brown began his coaching career in 2011 as a strength and conditioning coach at the University of Georgia. He worked for six different collegiate programs over the next nine seasons.
- 2012: Running backs coach, Chattanooga
- 2013: Running backs coach, Marshall
- 2014: Running backs coach, Wisconsin
- 2015: Running backs coach, Georgia
- 2016-18: Offensive coordinator and running backs coach, Miami (FL)
- 2019: Running backs coach, South Carolina
Brown made the jump to the NFL in 2020 when he joined the Los Angeles Rams as a running backs coach under Sean McVay.
He spent the next two seasons with the Rams, working as an RBs coach/assistant head coach in 2021 and a tight ends coach/assistant head coach in 2022.
Brown left the Rams in 2023 when he was hired as the Carolina Panthers’ next offensive coordinator. He wasn’t retained last offseason when the Panthers hired their current head coach, Dave Canales.
The Georgia Bulldogs alum now has eight games to prove he deserves to remain the Bears’ offensive coordinator in 2025.