Thomas Brown recognized he was stepping into an ugly situation. The Chicago Bears offense was broken. It had scored just 27 points in three games following the bye week and hadn’t scored a touchdown in the previous two. Even worse was the situation with Caleb Williams. He took an alarming number of sacks (18 in three games). Every time he took a snap, he seemed hesitant, skittish, and unwilling to take any risks. Following a 19-3 loss to New England, the Bears were forced to make changes. Offensive coordinator Shane Waldron was fired, and Brown replaced him.
There were plenty of things to fix before a critical matchup with the Green Bay Packers, but helping Williams regain some confidence was essential. He noted from inexperience last year in Carolina with Bryce Young that having his coordinator in his face at all times might do more harm than good. So Brown opted to call plays from the booth. According to Jori Epstein of Yahoo Sports, the coordinator made an adjustment to sideline communication that served two crucial purposes.
As Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator last year, Brown called plays from the sideline. He decided this season he’d see the field better from the booth, and opted to call plays Sunday from there.
The decision wasn’t unusual — NFL coaches routinely call plays from each place. But Brown leaned on the lessons he learned from Bryce Young’s rookie year to determine: In a league where myriad voices are eager to advise quarterbacks, streamlining communication is necessary.
The Bears arranged for a specific headset line that only Brown and Williams could access between drives. Brown clicked over to that line to give feedback from the last series and alert Williams to plans and expectations for the next. Then, he freed Williams to review film with quarterbacks coach Kerry Joseph and connect with teammates.
“An opportunity to decompress, go talk with teammates,” Brown said.
Overthinking is often the root cause of quarterbacks being indecisive. Reports indicated Waldron had a bad habit of flooding the rookie with too much information. On top of that, he was also slow to get play calls in during the game, leaving Williams less time than usual to assess a defense before the snap. Brown had no intention of falling into the same trap. He kept himself off the sideline, only communicating with Williams before and after a series. Then, while on the field, he made sure to have calls ready the moment previous plays ended.
One can’t argue with the results. Williams completed over 74% of his passes, amassed over 300 total yards, and drove the Bears into position for a game-winning field goal attempt. All of this came against one of the better defenses in the NFL. Thomas Brown deserves a ton of credit for recognizing what needed to change and wasting no time in doing so. It will be interesting to see how the dynamic between the two men evolves over the season’s final seven games.
