Thomas Brown will have a chance to remove the “interim” from his title when he interviews for the Chicago Bears’ head coach job after the season.
On ESPN 1000’s Bears pregame show, general manager Ryan Poles mentioned that Brown will have a formal interview after serving as the Bears’ interim head coach for five games. Brown took over for Matt Eberflus, who was fired on November 29.
“He will get an interview, and I’m excited to hear his thoughts,” Poles said. “Because he’s been here. He’s been here, he’s seen and reflected just like we have on the past and how we got to this and why were the results, the results. So I’m excited to hear from his side on how we got here and how he would fix it.”
The Bears lost four consecutive games with Brown as interim head coach before winning the final game of the season 24-22 against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
Brown, who started the season as the passing game coordinator, was promoted to offensive coordinator after Shane Waldron was fired before Week 11. Three weeks later, Brown was made the interim head coach.
“I’ve been so impressed with Thomas and his leadership,” Poles said. “I know the results haven’t come. That was a very difficult situation he’s been put in. I grew up in this business where you earn more, and that’s exactly how we got here with Thomas. I feel like he’s done a really good job.
“You could see the leadership traits, and then he got moved to the offense coordinator position and did well. We saw improvements on offense and then at the head coaching level, got the opportunity to do that and lead the entire team.
And just sitting in team meetings, meeting with him after games — he’s a truth teller. He’s someone that does challenge our players to get better, creates accountability. So there’s a lot of really positive traits that Thomas has, and I’ve been proud of how he’s stepped up and led this team down the stretch here.
And again, it’s not the results that we wanted in terms of wins and losses, but the traits of a leader. He absolutely has those.”
The Bears were one of three teams, along with the New York Jets and New Orleans Saints, to make a midseason change at head coach.
Chicago is expected to begin its interview process this week.
