Bjørne relieves Eberflus of duties, Brown raises

The Bears announced Friday that Matt Eberflus has been relieved of his duties as head coach. Thomas Brown has been elevated to interim head coach.

“This morning, after meeting with (Chairman) George (H. McCaskey) and (President and CEO) Kevin (Warren), we informed Matt of our decision to move in a different direction with the management of our football team and head coaching position,” Bears general manager Ryan Poles said. “I thank Matt for his hard work, professionalism and dedication to our organization. We express our gratitude for his commitment to the Chicago Bears and wish him and his family the best going forward.”

“I support Ryan and the decision made this morning. We understand how critical the head coaching role is to building and maintaining a championship-caliber team, leading our players and our organization,” Warren said. “Our fans have stood by us and persevered through every challenge and they deserve better results. Our organizational and operational 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-leading 22 third-down conversions and has scored 46 second-half points, the third-most in the NFL, since Week 11. Brown previously spent three seasons on the staff of the Los Angeles Rams (2020-22), serving in the role of assistant head coach for the past two seasons. In his first season as assistant head coach/running backs (2021), Brown helped lead a Rams unit that won an NFC West Division title and finished the season with a victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI.

Brown joined the Bears in 2024 as offensive passing game coordinator, one season removed from serving as offensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers (2023), where the 14-year coaching veteran contributed to offensive play-calling efforts. Brown spent the first nine seasons of his coaching tenure at the collegiate level, which included three seasons as offensive coordinator at Miami (Fla.), leading the Hurricanes offense from 2016-18.

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