Former Rams Assistant Gains Interim Head Coach Position

The Los Angeles Rams recently witnessed one of their former assistant coaches become the head man of an NFC North team as Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Thomas Brown was named interim head coach after the firing of head coach Matt Eberflus on Friday morning.

Brown was a member of the Rams' coaching staff for three season, spanning from 2020-'22. He was the running backs coach in his first year and then assumed the role of assistant head coach in his final two seasons while still coaching up the running backs.

With former assistant coach experience under current Rams head coach Sean McVay, it was a wise decision for the Bears to name Brown the interim guy in the final five games of the season. McVay knows Brown well and spoke on what makes him right for the job for a struggling franchise.

"Well, I know that he's [Brown] always been a guy that's had an incredible command," McVay said. "He's been a great competitor. He kind of demands respect from people that he's around just by the way that he carries himself. Anytime these things come up... and I think even Thomas did a great job of handling it when he got the opportunity to be the 'OC' [offensive coordinator]. He's done a great job, obviously, but it's unique in which the circumstances have come about but he's going to
attack it. I think guys will follow his lead."

Brown is taking over a Bears team that he was controlling the offense of and has now lost six-straight games after their crumble on Thanksgiving against the Detroit Lions on the road. Sometimes all a team needs is change of leadership and hopefully Brown is the guy for the job to spark a win streak.

Statistically, the Bears ranks as the seventh-worst offense, gaining an average of just 300.7 yards per game. He is in his first season as the offensive coordinator of a notoriously bad franchise, but has shown his ability to compete with the best teams in the league on the offensive side.

Earlier this season in Week 4, the Rams traveled to Chicago to play the Bears, falling 24-18. McVay lost to his former assistant head coach and Brown was able to post an impressive amount of points against a relatively strong Rams defense.

"In this profession, you just have such an appreciation for how challenging it is, how difficult, how volatile, and I think he's going to do a great job," McVay said. "I would imagine if he hasn't already done a press conference, the way that he would... in such a classy way. These aren't necessarily the circumstances that you wanted to occur. I know how much respect he has for [Former Bears Head Coach] Coach [Matt] Eberflus, but he is a guy that... you guys have heard me talk about him. We had a chance to work together for a few years, but I had a chance to compete against him and there are just certain people when you watch, you're like man, they're a little different in terms of the competitiveness, the spirit, and the never-say-die attitude."

McVay has seen the growth of Brown over the years and is confident in his ability to inherit a struggling team and find a way to turn their season around to move towards something positive next season. Brown may not be the head coach next season, but will do what he can the rest of this year.

“I think it's ongoing and ever-evolving," McVay said, "What I do know about Thomas is there are good
processes and procedures in place there. He’s always been a guy, when he was the assistant
head coach here, that was so thoughtful about being totally present in the role that you have
while also having an eye on, how would I do this if the opportunity arose whether it's call plays?
Or how would I be a head coach or different things? I think one of the things that we've tried to
do is take pride in here is you open the doors up so that you can see exactly how we want to
handle it and you're accountable for when there are mistakes on my end."

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