CHICAGO — The mission for Thomas Brown, now that he has chosen to accept it, indeed seems impossible.

With five games remaining in a sinking Chicago Bears season, Brown is suddenly at the helm of a damaged and wayward ship in stormy seas, trying to steer an exhausted football team to shore. Some shore. Any shore will do.

At this point, the island on which 14 NFL playoff teams will reside five weeks from now is basically unreachable, way off in another direction and well out of sight after the Bears (4-8) began veering off course six weeks ago. Yet somehow Brown, the team’s passing game coordinator as recently as Nov. 11, has become tasked with leading the Bears to safety.

“I’m excited about the opportunity,” he said Monday. “I welcome the challenge. It’s all hands on deck.”

For the first time in 105 seasons, the Bears have an interim head coach, a role Brown accepted Friday morning immediately after Matt Eberflus was fired. That promotion came just 17 days after Brown became the team’s offensive coordinator following Shane Waldron’s termination.

Thus on Monday morning, after a long and emotionally draining holiday weekend for everyone in the organization, Brown stood in front of a team meeting at Halas Hall and worked to establish new expectations and direction.

He expressed his primary objective — “To unify this football team” — and asked players to be accountable, dependable and available above all else.

Brown was also emphatic about his desire to see a team that is aggressive and always plays with an attacking mindset.

“Football is a violent game,” Brown said. “It rewards those who play the game violently.”

Monday’s main act at Halas Hall was a tandem Kevin Warren-Ryan Poles news conference, a 20-minute affair — almost half of it taken up by opening statements — in which the Bears president/CEO and general manager tried to explain their misplaced trust in Eberflus’ leadership ability while also establishing a vision for the upcoming coaching search.

We’ll have weeks to continue parsing and interpreting everything said during that session and how it all affects the Bears’ very uncertain future. But the present includes a game Sunday afternoon in Santa Clara, Calif., against the San Francisco 49ers (5-7). Four more games remain after that.

And there’s now a new head coach in front of the room trying to revive the energy of a last-place team on a six-game losing streak.

“Nobody cares what has happened before or what will happen in the future,” Brown said Monday. “Overcome it. Fight through it. It’s not about the event, it’s about the response. Respond the right way. Together. Collectively. And go attack.”

To that end, Brown made it clear he aims to curtail the locker-room division he has sensed since the Bears last won a game eight weeks ago. He said he ordered his players Monday to “understand the importance of the family and the family business staying in the family business.”

“I made the association this morning about being in my house,” Brown said. “And I have some phenomenal neighbors around me who have no idea what happens at my house. Because it’s not their business. So we’re in this thing together. We communicate together.

“I want those guys to understand they always have a doorway and a pathway to communicate with me. I will not just do whatever they ask me to do. That’s not how this works. But every thought process is about being able to understand how to resolve problems and how to make people and the situation better so we can get a better result.”

From the top, Brown’s bosses are optimistic better results can come.

“Thomas is incredibly bright,” Warren said. “He’s hard-working. He has grown up around the game. He’s talented. He has great leadership capabilities. He’s decisive and he’s clear. And I’m excited to watch him lead our football team.”

As far as Monday’s coaching-staff housekeeping items, Brown announced the promotion of wide receivers coach Chris Beatty into the offensive coordinator role that has been vacated twice since Week 10.

He also confirmed that defensive coordinator Eric Washington will call the plays on that side of the ball, a responsibility Eberflus held since the odd September 2023 resignation of then-coordinator Alan Williams.

All of this is commotion added into a building so desperately in need of steadiness. The reshuffling is far from ideal. That includes Brown coming down from the coaches’ box to the sideline to call plays for the offense and — oh, yeah — oversee the entire team.

“I’d probably be the first head coach or interim head coach to stay in the box,” Brown quipped as he confirmed that obvious move. “I’m not going to do that. I’ll be on the grass. I thought about it though. Probably too aggressive.”

Truthfully, in such desperate times, all of this is pretty aggressive, including Brown’s continued oversight of rookie quarterback Caleb Williams. That duo seemingly found a groove together over the last three games, with Williams completing 64.1% of his passes for 827 yards with five touchdowns, no turnovers and a 99.2 passer rating since Brown became his play caller.

But now, with additional oversight of the defense, special teams and game management, Brown will be spread much thinner.

He emphasized that, in conjunction with quarterbacks coach Kerry Joseph, he will continue to run the quarterback meetings while staying heavily involved during individual drills at practice. As for restoring order to Williams’ disrupted world and keeping the 23-year-old quarterback in a positive headspace, Brown could promise only one thing: consistency.

“We all have to make adjustments,” he said. “Life is ever-changing. That’s not an excuse. I don’t make excuses. So (it’s about) being able to communicate effectively, to be on the same page, to continue to demand that we do things the right way. But it’s also taking it one play at a time, one day at a time.”

That bite-by-bite approach is the only one that makes sense. Thus it was no wonder Brown wasn’t really interested Monday in talking or thinking about his potential candidacy to remain the Bears head coach beyond Jan. 5.

“I’m not worried about what happens in five weeks,” he said. “It’s not even in my thought process. I’m focused on this very moment and on how to do the best job I can for this football team to help lead these guys the right way and go have success.”

The Bears’ next practice is Wednesday. An intense week of change and preparation will continue. The team will walk into Levi’s Stadium on Sunday afternoon 56 days removed from its last victory. And Brown will do his best to steer the ship through the storm.

“I’m ready to roll,” he said.

But he also acknowledged the dynamics.

“We live in a results-driven business,” Brown said. “That’s what we all sign up for. When things go well, people will sing your praises. And when things don’t go well, they ask for your head.”

____

©2024 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.