Sean McVay respected Thomas Brown enough to make him Rams assistant head coach after just one season on his staff. The title was added to his job as running backs coach, a title he held with several college teams after a storied playing career at the University of Georgia.

It was an early sign the respected offensive play caller and head coach thought something of Brown, which has been evident in McVay’s during his time with the Rams and well after.

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It was no surprise, then, that McVay would spend significant time praising Brown and his new opportunity as Bears interim head coach.

Brown got promoted into that role on Friday, after Matt Eberflus was fired following the team’s sixth straight loss.

The topic came up in McVay’s press conference later that day, and the Rams HC gave way more than a stock answer.

“He’s done a great job, obviously, (and) it’s unique in which the circumstances have come about but he’s going to attack it,” McVay said. “I think guys will follow his lead.”

That was evident during his time as Bears offensive coordinator. Originally hired as the team’s offensive passing game coordinator, Brown was promoted to offensive coordinator and play caller after Shane Waldron’s firing on Nov. 12.

“I know that he’s always been a guy that’s had an incredible command,” McVay said. “He’s been a great competitor. He kind of demands respect from people that he’s around just by the way that he carries himself.”

He received rave reviews from Caleb Willams and players on that unit for his leadership style, and he earned further trust by making the schematic adjustments required to get Williams and the offense back on track.

Brown ranked McVay high among his mentors and in terms of how to run an offense and be a leader of men.

“Sean (McVay) is my biggest influence as far as overall background and how you design an offense and activate that and use your personnel well,” Brown said earlier this month. “I lean heavily on him.”

McVay and Brown go way, way back. They competed against each other as high school football players in Georgia. The mutual respect started back then and has carried forward to this day.   

“We had a chance to work together for a few years, but I had a chance to compete against him and there are just certain people when you watch, you’re like, man, ‘they’re a little different in terms of the competitiveness, the spirit, and the never-say-die attitude,’” McVay said. “And then just his overall presence in general is impressive. I think a good way to articulate it is he commands respect by the way he handles himself and he gives it back. I’ve always thought he was a guy that would be a head coach at some point.”

McVay said that he could tell Brown had an eye furthering his career while with the Rams. Browns was taking, shall we say mental reps, about how he would handle things if he were a head coach or play caller in the future.

“I think one of the things that we’ve tried to do is take pride in here is you open the doors up so that you can see exactly how we want to handle it and you’re accountable for when there are mistakes on my end,” McVay said. “You also say, ‘Alright, here are some things that have worked out in our favor. Here are the processes and procedures and the organizational structure at which we get to these decisions.’ The handling game day I think is something that you decide as a head coach which responsibilities do you want to have? And where is that threshold of making sure that you use the surrounding parts around you? That’s always evolving, but I think he’ll do a great job with that.”