The Thomas Brown era officially begins for the Chicago Bears on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers.
Many are shocked by his rapid ascent from passing game coordinator to offensive coordinator to interim head coach with five games left. Brown's ascent is due to his ability to get the most out of Caleb Williams and the offense in his three-game stint as an offensive coordinator while keeping the Bears in the game against the NFC North Division teams until the end.
While the offense is rising, the defense has taken a massive downturn ever since the infamous Hail Mary game against Washington.
With Matt Eberflus finally out, the Bears now have five games to salvage their once-promising season. Brown will get all the attention as he gets his first shot at auditioning for the Bears' head coaching job. But defensive coordinator Eric Washington is fighting for his coaching career, too.
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Washington's first order of business is to improve the run defense. Though they do not have to face Christian McCaffery this Sunday, they still have Josh Jacobs, Aaron Jones, Jahmyr Gibbs, and David Montgomery left on the schedule. They all have beaten the Bears already this season, so Washington must come up with his own solution.
He also must come up with more ways to generate the anemic pass rush. Rookie Austin Booker might be asked to play more and even blitz more, something Eberflus was allergic to for some reason. Playing soft zone and allowing easy completions during the overtime loss to Minnesota Vikings last month, the last home game of Eberflus' coaching career, cannot be repeated. Without the pass rush, the secondary has taken a lot of heat and given up big completions. Can he allow them to play more aggressively and help out the defensive line?
Like Brown, Washington can only call plays from the playbook used by his predecessors. But Brown has shown he is not overwhelmed by his task and is taking full advantage of his opportunity. For Washington, anything different from Eberflus would be welcomed by frustrated fans. With his own future on the line, he must prove he is capable of putting his own stamp on it and setting himself apart from Eberflus.
