With the departure of former Bears head coach Matt Eberflus, Chicago was forced to do some shuffling of the coaching staff just weeks after the firing of former offensive coordinator Shane Waldron necessitated some shuffling of its own. 
Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times reported today that, with Thomas Brown continuing his in-season ascension from passing game coordinator to offensive coordinator to interim head coach, wide receivers coach Chris Beatty has been named the team’s new offensive coordinator. Beatty, who just started coaching in the NFL in 2021 as the Chargers’ receivers coach, had reportedly been very involved in the passing game since Brown had taken over offensive play-calling duties from Waldron.
While Beatty will officially get his first offensive coordinator title in the move, Brown will retain play-calling duties as interim head coach. This is the second season in a row that Brown has taken over play-calling duties for a fired boss and the second season in a row in which his head coach has been fired. Last year, Brown didn’t call plays as offensive coordinator of the Panthers until then-head coach Frank Reich ceded the duties to him shortly before losing his job.
After Waldron was fired for putting up only 27 points in the three weeks prior, the Bears have scored 19, 27, and 20 points in the three games with a Brown-led offense. He’ll continue calling plays for Caleb Williams and company for the remainder of the year.
Similar to Brown’s situation in Carolina last year, Eberflus also held play-calling duties before getting fired. Those defensive play-calling duties will now officially be passed down to defensive coordinator Eric Washington, per Tom Pelissero of NFL Network. Washington got his first defensive coordinator gig for the Panthers in 2018, but near the end of the season, then-head coach Ron Rivera took over play-calling duties from Washington. He retained his coordinator role in 2019, but Rivera continued calling plays until his midseason dismissal.
Right now, I think it’s safe to say that none of Brown, Beatty, or Washington will be favorites to retain their roles at the moment. With Chicago investing in a new start behind their No. 1 overall draft pick, Williams, they’ll likely search for a coaching staff that works best around him, like Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, who mentored Williams at USC.
Still, all three coaches have five weeks to show exactly what they have to offer in their current roles. Brown has been interviewing for a number of head coaching jobs around the NFL in the past several years and finally has a chance to audition for teams looking to fill the position this offseason. Beatty’s young coaching career in the NFL has a chance to continue escalating with this new coordinator experience, and Washington has finally received a second chance at calling defensive plays. Five weeks is plenty of time to set some new narratives.
I’m glad these guys will get a 5 game shot. Great opportunity for them.
The only opportunity left now is for the Bears to win meaningless games that will drop them further back in the draft order. The organization has never been good at grasping the big picture.