How the Chicago Bears received Thomas Browns' first impression as offensive coordinator

LAKE FOREST, Ill. - The winds of change hit Halas Hall. The reverberation of Shane Waldron's firing was different for everyone on the Chicago Bears.

Bears wide receiver DJ Moore had his take.

"That was shocking," Moore said. "We expressed our frustration, but never to have somebody's livelihood taken away."

Now, Thomas Brown is the Bears offensive coordinator. He was promoted in the same stroke of Waldron's firing. 

Brown went in front of the offense on Wednesday morning as the offensive coordinator for the first time and addressed the team. In that moment, the guy who interviewed for head coaching jobs and for the Bears' offensive coordinator before Waldron took the job, rose to the occasion.

The players took notice.

"He really controlled the room," Bears offensive lineman Matt Pryor said. "When he is up there it was quiet, and he's real demanding for the room."

"Demanding" was an attribute some said of Brown this offseason when he was on the market. 

That "demanding" trait took shape in just the way Brown spoke, too.

"It's just the way he carried himself and just the way he spoke," Pryor said, "He has faith in what we can do as an offense. We have the right people in the room and it's just a matter of putting it out there. He's goning take his best approach into making sure we do that on the field and I'm really excited to see what he can do."

Brown is familiar with the scheme the Bears have in place. He worked with the system when he coached under Sean McVay in Los Angeles as the Rams' running backs coach and assistant head coach.

The Bears aren't going to change their offense. That's not realistic in the middle of the season, either. What is realistic is changing how that offense operates. Step one is in-game communication, which was an area Eberflus said the offense majorly lacked.

Moore, when asked about it, said communication struggled because it waited too long to occur.

"Probably like when we want to call or it's probably like a drive too late or like we want to make adjustments and we just wait till half-time to make it," Moore said. "Then we don't get the same look."

The Bears are looking to Brown to be a driving force in those mid-game adjustments.

When addressing the media for the first time Wednesday, Brown was realistic. He didn't want to reinvent the offense or how to approach developing rookie quarterback Caleb Williams.

What he wants is to use the offense in his own way.

To the players, that's a breath of fresh air and a new energy the team felt immediately.

"It was very refreshing. A new light of excitement and just a different type of energy that he brings and just focus on us and not really anybody else," Bears offensive lineman Braxton Jones said. "Go in talking about how good this Packers' defense is – and they are and give it to them – but it's really about us and fixing our problems, and that's the message he gave us."

Message received.

The Bears didn't necessarily hear from Brown much before this season, but that's because he wasn't in a primary leadership role in the offensive meeting rooms.

Now, as they hear his voice leading into Sunday's rivalry game with the Packers, they're buying in quickly.

"He's stepping into a role that he didn't necessarily sign up for beginning the season, so that puts a lot of pressure on him," Bears receiver Rome Odunze said. "He's going to go out there and do his thing."

Brown's first Wednesday as offensive coordinator was also a welcome change that even rookies and younger players agreed with.

"It has to shift," Odunze said. "Something has to give and I think the energy in the building, especially within offensive staff and players needs to shift. I think we're embodying that, embodying the change that it is."

Brown spoke impressively with the media at the podium. He didn't waver and was honest.

That honesty carried over into the locker room. No matter who you talked to on the offensive side of the ball on Wednesday, it was clear they all believed the Bears needed some kind of change.

"We definitely needed something," Bears tight end Cole Kmet said. "Thomas is ready to give it to us."

What exactly will that look like?

"Got to see on Sunday," Moore said.