Thomas Brown received overwhelmingly positive reviews from his first game as Bears offensive coordinator. Such evaluations were fair.

The offensive play calling and play designs were more creative, more efficient and got talented skill players touches in positions to succeed.

Everything from the cadence of play calls to the use of motion to the intricacies of formations were designed to make the players feel more comfortable executing assignments.

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The unit conducted some its best drives of the season, including an end-of-half drive that ended with a touchdown and but a few seconds left and a last-ditch effort that set up a game-winning field goal attempt that got blocked in a 20-19 loss to Green Bay.

Caleb Williams looked like himself after two rough games. DJ Moore was heavy involved. D’Andre hit a long run for a touchdown. Cole Kmet was involved again and Rome Odunze came through in the clutch.

Thomas Brown took to the podium for the first time since then and refused to receive any flowers. The no nonsense coach set the tone before taking a single question.

“There are no atta-boys in this game,” Brown said. “We play the game to win. We came up short.”

That, above anything else previously mentioned, was his bottom line.

There were some discoveries in the details, which could matter if a quality offensive performance turns into a positive trend under Brown.

The Bears averaged their highest EPA per play (+0.23) and second-highest success rate of the season (47.8 percent), per NFL NextGen Stats. Caleb Williams had his lowest average time to throw (2.42 seconds) this season, a smart move considering he has a +11.6 EPA with four touchdowns and no interceptions when throwing in under 2.5 seconds.

That’s no coincedence.

The Bears’ new play caller had a significant impact on that game, as intended, but he also knows he’s a relief pitcher entering in the middle of the inning. His job is to be efficient, play smart and find a way out of a mess he didn’t create. This isn’t a time to have the Bears offense take on his personality and use his philosophies.

“That’s a good question. Haven’t thought about it. Probably won’t think about it,” Brown said. “The daily focus and how to prepare is what I think about the most, and how I can do the best I can to put us in the best spot. The true test of a leader is to make people and situations better. That’s my focus every day. How can I be my best, to be accountable to the entire group and help them compete at their best? And, how can I continue to find solutions?”

Brown came up with some against the Packers.

He used motion a ton, with it a staple of the game plan. He used motion 48 times in 68 offensive plays, per SportRadar, a significantly higher clip than what the Bears did under former OC Shane Waldron. He varied formations, in terms of personnel packages, alignments to placement on the field. He was committed to the run game, used the read option more, sent D’Andre Swift outside the tackles to great effect and got Roschon Johnson more involved. He got play calls into Williams early, allowing for more time to reach the line and dissect what he sees.

The players enjoyed his changes and credited Brown some for elevated play.

“Just being him and bringing all that energy,” DJ Moore said. “It flowed through us, and we went out there and played some of the best football we did to this day.” 

Brown insists that the new tweaks aren’t personal signatures. They’re designed to get this unit going again.

“The wrinkles I want to add has to do what’s best for our team,” Brown said. “Regardless of what I may want to do – because it’s not about me – I think about what we are right now and what guys have time on task with, and what we’ll continue to put in place as far as throughout the entire season, kind of marrying some stuff up and dress it up differently to give the defense a new presentation, while still working with what we’ve had time on task with.”

The goal moving forward is to use design and creativity to make players comfortable and confident using their skill sets in advantageous positions.

“As an offensive play caller, it’s my job to alleviate stress from the two most stressful positions, which is the o-line and the quarterback,” Brown said. “If we can do that through the use of shifts and motions, if we can do it through the run game and do it through the use of screens, but, also, how many ways can we design unsackable plays? We always have an all-out mentality. When a guy’s playing in space, we want him to be decisive and make a play.”

Moore considers the uptick in efficiency and execution to remain, even against stout defenses on the schedule. The formula, in Moore’s mind, isn’t that complicated.

“Carry over what we were doing,” he said, “and just add a W to it at the end.”