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Quarterback Caleb Williams of the Chicago Bears.
Welcoming the Detroit Lions to Solider Field used to be the best way for the Chicago Bears to break a losing streak, but not so much anymore.
The Lions were routing the Bears in the Windy City midway through the third quarter on Sunday, December 22, by a score of 34-14 when Chicago found itself in the red zone with the chance to make it a two-score game. However, on a fourth down with seven yards to go from the Detroit 12-yard line, Bears head coach Thomas Brown chose to kick a field goal to cut the lead to 17 points.
Fans began raining boos down from the stands, and they weren’t the only people in the stadium who were angry about the decision.
“Caleb Williams looks PISSED as Thomas Brown passes up going for it on 4th down and elects the FG,” Bears Nation posted to X. “Makes [zero] sense considering the state of the season and score to not go for it on 4th.”
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GettyChicago Bears interim head coach Thomas Brown.
In fairness to Brown, whatever decision he made probably wouldn’t have mattered, as the Lions ended up winning the contest 34-17 — the same score after Cairo Santos booted the field goal attempt in question through the uprights in the middle of the third quarter.
But Brown’s decision did echo the recent past, when former head coach Matt Eberflus so often played not to lose rather than to win, which led to several late-game errors from the sideline that cost Chicago multiple victories and changed both the course and narrative of Williams’ rookie season.
The lack of guts in a moment that pretty clearly called for them against Detroit Sunday doesn’t bode well for Brown’s future at the helm of Chicago’s sideline beyond this year, either. The Bears were competitive under Eberflus, though they’ve been anything but since his departure.
Chicago has lost its three games under Brown by an average of 20 points per contest. The opponents have been of a high quality (San Francisco 49ers, Minnesota Vikings, Lions), but three consecutive blowouts have turned the season from bad to much worse.
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GettyOffensive coordinator Ben Johnson (left) and head coach Dan Campbell (right) of the Detroit Lions.
Brown has a couple of games left to find his proverbial voice as a head coach and put some positive finishing touches on what is now almost certain to be simply an audition in Chicago for an offensive coordinator position, either with the Bears or elsewhere, come 2025.
He started this year as the team’s pass game coordinator before the team’s choices to fire Shane Waldron and then Eberflus a few weeks later bumped Brown up into the lead role at a wildly accelerated pace.
Chicago’s decision makers in the front office have spoken openly about the head coaching search to come, which is actually probably already well underway, and noted that it will be wide-ranging and include several candidates.
There are simply more experienced candidates for the job at this point in time, such as offensive coordinator Ben Johnson of Detroit, but that doesn’t mean Brown can’t make a mark in Chicago before moving back down to a coordinator role or moving on to another opportunity elsewhere in the NFL.
