Windy City Gridiron
The Bears’ interim OC/HC will serve as a tight ends coach and passing game coordinator under Mike Vrabel.
Thomas Brown just found a new home, and it might actually interest Chicago Bears fans.
The Bears’ interim OC/interim HC from this past season landed a new gig with the New England Patriots, according to multiple reporters. NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero reports Brown will work under new Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel as a tight ends coach/passing game coordinator.
It’s good news for Brown, who is one of the first Bears offensive assistants to get a new job so far after the hiring of Ben Johnson, who cleaned the slate for the coaching staff. Though the Bears offense and team struggled on the whole last season, Brown’s work as interim OC (before he took over for Eberflus) was commendable. In those three games, Caleb Williams was 75-for-117 passing for 827 passing yards, five touchdown passes and a 99.2 passer rating without an interception.
Vrabel, who reportedly interviewed well with the Chicago Bears but had his sights set on the Patriots job from the start, has built a strong coaching staff in Foxborough that rivals the one Johnson has put together so far in Chicago. In particular, he reportedly has coveted a means to re-create portions of the Sean McVay offensive scheme, which Brown, a former running backs and tight ends coach under McVay with the Rams, can provide.
It’s also interesting because the Bears and Patriots will be a fascinating parallel study over the next few years.
While the Bears went with Johnson, the hot-name offensive mind, the Patriots went more old-school with the defensive-minded-but-CEO-style Vrabel, who brought in the ultra-experienced Josh McDaniels to oversee Drake Maye’s development. However, they also have created a massive pipeline of young coaching talent on the offensive side to modern their approach from the old Patriots days, including bringing in Brown to help integrate West Coast elements they failed to implement before.
Which young QB — Williams or Maye — will have the better career? Both now seem like they’re in much more favorable positions than they were a few weeks ago, and the race to the top of the QB rankings begins now. This time, though, Brown will be aiding Maye, not Williams.
