Thomas Brown seemed to fare well in his match-up with Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores at Soldier Field on Nov. 24 — just his second game as the Bears’ offensive coordinator after Shane Waldron was fired on Nov. 12 after nine games.
The Bears offense — with D’Andre Swift and the running game stifled — still scored 27 points and gained 398 yards against a Vikings defense that ranked fourth in the NFL in points allowed and 10th in yards allowed. The Vikings, in fact, had allowed an average of 11 points and 221.3 yards in their previous three games.
More importantly, Brown’s offense was better at the end than in the beginning. In the Bears’ first nine possessions, they scored 10 points and averaged 4.9 yards per play. In their final three possessions of regulation they scored 17 points in a furious comeback and averaged 6.2 yards per play.
It didn’t continue in overtime, as Caleb Williams took a 12-yard sack — a rookie mistake he owned — to stunt the offense’s only possession in a 30-27 loss. But the Bears’ late rally at least gave the impression that Brown learns well.
The Bears’ rematch against the Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on "Monday Night Football" will be an even bigger test, and an opportunity as well.
The notion that the straight-talking Brown’s “aura” and the players’ belief in him following the firing of Matt Eberflus would invigorate the team and promote Brown’s dark-horse candidacy for the head coaching job took a massive hit against the 49ers last week. The Bears crapped out on offense and defense — out-gained 314-9 in the first half as the Bears trailed 24-0. The Bears’ only touchdowns were scored when they trailed 24-0 and 31-6. So much for the Brown bump.
Brown’s head-coaching candidacy seems like it's on life-support at this point. But he’ll at least have an opportunity for a little redemption in the rematch against the Vikings on Monday night.
Not surprisingly, Brown doesn’t quite see it that way.
“I don’t look at it as far as how good I am at what I’m doing,” Brown said. “The whole goal is to get the team to be the best they can be. That’s always my focus. How I look is really irrelevant to me, because that’s also tied to overall team success.”
But Brown couldn’t dismiss the chess game that is inherent to any rematch, especially against a Flores defense that tries to outwit you with hard-to-predict blitzes.
“It’s a chess match between every game,” Brown said. “The second time you play an opponent you have to have different answers. We did have some success in that first game, as far as being able to move the ball at times, get the ball out and beat some of the pressures.
“He’ll make some adjustments. As far as me trying to guess what he’s gonna do, I’m not even gonna try to do that. That’s a waste of my time when it comes to thinking about that defense and what he does for them. It’s more about us preparing our guys and having answers on every play.”
That will be more difficult at U.S. Bank Stadium than it was at Soldier Field. But Brown embraces that challenge.
“It’s on the road and it’s probably going to be the loudest environment we’ve been a part of, which is awesome,” Brown said. “I love loud stadiums. I love the juice that they provide us as well. When you go on the road, you kind of focus more on yourself. It’s an us-against-the-world type of mentality. All those things kind of are included, to me, leads to a good opportunity to have success.”
