People are already thinking about the upcoming head coaching search for the Chicago Bears. They forget that there are five games left in the season. Offensive coordinator Thomas Brown has taken over the interim role, and it sounds like he has a lot of fans inside Halas Hall. Two important ones are quarterback Caleb Williams and GM Ryan Poles. The former has rebounded significantly over the past three weeks thanks to Brown’s oversight. The latter was the primary reason he came to Chicago in the first place. If Brown can create some late-season magic, his path to the job is clearer than it would be for most interims.
The obvious question is what happens if he does? Some wonder if he’ll just keep the staff in place as is, making do with what he has. However, one source informed SM that won’t be the case. While Brown is focused on the immediate challenges of beating San Francisco next week, he does have some preliminary plans for reshuffling the staff if the opportunity comes. Two names were mentioned as desired targets: Zac Taylor and Robert Saleh.
Believe it or not, he has connections to both coaches. Saleh was a defensive assistant at Georgia in 2005 when Brown was a running back there. The two then went head to head as division rivals when Saleh was in San Francisco and Brown in Los Angeles. As for Taylor, the two are connected via Rams head coach Sean McVay. Both have been assistants to the Super Bowl winner at different points since 2017. Though Taylor is currently the head coach in Cincinnati, there are rumblings he could be fired as the team dropped to 4-8 after another tough loss on Sunday.
Either way, it is apparent that Thomas Brown may look to surround himself with experienced coordinators in the event he claims the Bears job. That isn’t a bad practice. McVay did the same thing when he started in L.A., bringing in veteran coaches like Wade Phillips, John Fassel, and Joe Barry. This shows that Brown has common sense about his situation. Alas, such decisions must wait. None of it matters if he can end the Bears’ six-game losing streak and get them back on a firm footing.
