Bears relieve Eberflus of duties, increase Brown

The Bears announced Friday that Matt Eberflus has been relieved of his head coaching duties. Thomas Brown was named interim head coach.

“After meeting with (Chairman) George (H. McCaskey) and (President and CEO) Kevin (Warren), we informed Matt this morning of our decision to move in a different direction with our football team leadership and the boss. coaching position,” said Bears general manager Ryan Poles. “I thank Matt for his hard work, professionalism and commitment to our organization. We thank him for his commitment to the Chicago Bears and wish him and his family all the best for the future .”

“I support Ryan and the decision made this morning. “We understand how important the role of head coach is in building and sustaining a championship-caliber team that leads our players and our organization,” Warren said. “Our fans have stood by us and overcome every challenge and they deserve better results. Our organizational and operating structure is strong, focused, aligned and energized for the future.”

Brown has led the Bears’ offense in each of the last three weeks, a unit that has totaled a league-high 22 third-down conversions since Week 11 and scored 46 second-half points, third-most in the NFL three Seasons with the Los Angeles Rams team (2020-22), serving as associate head coach the last two seasons. In his first season as associate head coach/running backs (2021), Brown helped lead a Rams unit that secured an NFC West Division title and finished the season with a victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI.

Brown joined the Bears as offensive passing game coordinator in 2024 after serving as offensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers (2023) a season earlier, where the 14-year coaching veteran contributed to offensive play calls. Brown spent the first nine seasons of coaching at the collegiate level, including three seasons as offensive coordinator at Miami (Florida), where he led the Hurricanes’ offense from 2016 to 2018.

The Decatur, Georgia native played in college at Georgia, where he finished his career as the fifth-leading rusher in program history with 2,646 total rushing yards and 26 total touchdowns.