7 Thoughts On The Beginning And End Of Thomas Brown Against The 49ers

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The Chicago Bears finally had enough. After one of the most embarrassing finishes to a football game in recent memory — running out of time in the Thanksgiving Day showdown in Detroit — in a tenure full of embarrassing finishes, Ryan Poles and Kevin Warren fired Matt Eberflus on Black Friday. A full-on mutiny in the visitor locker room at Ford Field slammed the door on Flus’ tenure.

Thomas Brown took over (what a rise for a guy who started the year as the passing game coordinator!) and players instantly seemed to take to him. Comments from players and coaches alike have sung his praises and painted a picture that’s a far cry from Flus’ style and tenure.

With Chicago all but out of the playoff race, what’s left to see is if bare-minimum competent coaching (assuming Brown really is that) can extract success from a roster that was thought to be fairly good coming into the season. Can the Bears do enough over the next five games to prove that the roster is coming together nicely? Will Brown show himself to be a legitimate candidate for the HC role after the season ends?

That ‘audition’ began today as the Bears took on the San Francisco 49ers in the “Season From Hell Bowl.” Both teams have had horrific seasons. The winner of this game would live to fight another week. The loser of this game would officially bow out of the playoff race.

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In the end, the Bears started the Thomas Brown Interim Era with one of the worst performances in the new millenium – somehow showing that rock bottom for this Bears team can always sink lower and lower.

I shared my in-game reactions, thoughts and observations from the game below. Follow me on Twitter/X @DhruvKoul to continue the conversation.

Thoughts and Observations

1. About as bad a start as you could cook up in Thomas Brown’s debut. The 49ers took the ball and marched 70 yards for a touchdown in five plays. A mesh concept and a screen ate up 56 yards, and Tyrique Stevenson was lost on the TD toss to Jauan Jennings. They had zero clue about what was happening on that drive.

They scored mad quickly on their third drive as well, with 4th-string RB Isaac Guerendo gaining 28 yards on two plays to score. Just disastrous from the defense.

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2. Stevenson has looked lost since Washington. Jaylon Johnson has looked human for the last month. The Bears have no viable NFL defensive lineman outside of Montez Sweat and – at times – Gervon Dexter. Tremaine Edmunds is an expensive liability. It’s unbelievable how easily Kyle Shanahan is opening up the Bears’ zones.

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3. Meanwhile, the offense has also looked terrible in the first half. Thomas Brown went back to calling some of the Shane Waldron iso-route staples early on as the Bears went three-and-punt repeatedly. Caleb had an interception go right through a defender’s hands. He was sacked on three of their first four third downs. By the time of the two-minute warning, Chicago had a grand total of 2 yards of offense. TWO. Sickening.

4. I’ll say this for Thomas Brown and the ‘interim coach bump’ — it’s over. Never has an interim stint been so clearly over in a single half, but that’s where we find ourselves.

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5. The half ends with the Bears having as many total yards (4) as sacks given up (4). Per TruMedia, those 4 total yards at halftime are the lowest the Bears have had this millenium. In other words, yes, a historically bad first half.

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6. What’s left to cover? Nothing.

7. I really didn’t see it being that bad with Thomas Brown, guys. If THIS is going to be the result, there’s no purpose in watching or covering any of this. I wish there was a ‘fast-forward’ to the offseason, but no, we have to live this nonsense for another month. These guys play in prime time next Monday night…

Early prediction: Vikings 40, Bears 13