Chicago Bears begin first full week under head coach Thomas Brown with different, yet simpler goals

LAKE FOREST, Ill. - Nearly a month ago, Thomas Brown wanted to go on a weight-loss journey of his own.

The 38-year-old passing game coordinator for the Chicago Bears was looking to change his lifestyle. The franchise has done that for him, to a degree.

Since that decision, Brown has been promoted twice – first to offensive coordinator, and second to head coach last Friday – and has lost nearly 30 pounds in the process.

"If you increase tasks to your day, you forget about food," Brown said.

Those tasks have increased monumentally now.

The first-ever interim head coach in the history of the Chicago Bears is charged with providing a new voice and coaching style to a team that needs to sew itself together for the final five weeks of the regular season.

Brown got a start on injecting his voice into this team last Friday when he was named interim head coach. He said he took time to try and have individual conversations with players on the team about the changes and what to expect.

Part of that was the expectation on how the team will play.

"Football is a violent game and it rewards those who play the game violently," Brown said Wednesday. "That is a non-negotiable for us."

The Bears felt that message reverberate after the first practice of the Brown era.

"I do feel like there's a big change to our emphasis and how we attack everyday," Bears offensive lineman Teven Jenkins said. "It's about getting back to who we are as a team."

The Bears have gotten better at instilling an edge the team showed earlier this season.

Plenty within the Bears organization, on the coaching staff and front office, will point to the three-game winning streak the Bears had between September and October. Then, the Bears were physical and forced turnovers.

Getting back to that is what the focus will be.

"That's Chicago football, right? That's kind of how it's been built," Bears linebacker TJ Edwards said. "That's the expectation in this league. Normally, the more physical team wins and we like to think that we're physical, but we got to go out there and show it."

Showing it is easier said than done, but the Bears have taken steps to move words into action on the field.

It starts with the buy-in. Brown earned that buy-in from the offense when he was named offensive coordinator. That's only continued as he's taken over as head coach.

"He's very deliberate in how he talks to us," Jenkins said. "You can see that everybody in the whole team room right now is very bought in to what he's saying."

Brown's voice isn't just deliberate and demanding, it was needed.

After losing six-straight games, the Bears needed a change. They couldn't keep hearing the same things over and over. The players attested to this, especially as tensions run high after one heartbreaking loss, let alone three in a row to NFC North opponents.

"I would say there was change that was needed," Bears quarterback Caleb Williams said. "That goes from what Thomas was talking about, accountability, unifying each other."

Brown's work is cut out for him.

He can't undo the damage the six-game losing streak has done. A 10-win season is not attainable now. The playoffs are most likely out of reach for the Bears.

But, the talent on the roster is undeniable. There's still pride to play for. Brown has a chance to coach himself into a full-time head coaching job with the Bears, or in the NFL somewhere at the very lease.

However, he's not thinking about that bigger picture. He's not thinking about the career opportunity that sits in front of him. He wants to get the Bears in a position to win games.

Before Brown took over, the Bears preached "complimentary football" as their overall goal.

Brown's goals are much simpler.

"The goal isn't perfection. The goal is to be excellent," Brown said.