GREEN BAY, Wisconsin – The Chicago Bears, a stylish Super Bowl contender at the start of the season, fired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron on Tuesday.

Thomas Brown, the team’s passing game coordinator, has been promoted to offensive coordinator, meaning he will design the game plan and call the plays for Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers.

Moreover, he will try to salvage rookie quarterback Caleb Williams’ season.

Brown was the Carolina Panthers’ first-time offensive coordinator last year.

Carolina’s offense was terrible; With one exception, he was last in the league in points, yards and passing yards.

against the Packers.

On Christmas Eve, the Packers pulled off their biggest upset of the season by winning 33-30 at Carolina.

The Panthers rallied from a 30-16 deficit in the fourth quarter, scoring back-to-back touchdown passes from Bryce Young to DJ Chark against Eric Stokes. Green Bay won the game on a 32-yard field goal by Anders Carlson with 19 seconds left.

In the two games prior to this matchup, the Panthers had scored 15 points and zero goals.

The Panthers failed to score in the next two games.

Against Green Bay, Carolina had its best offensive performance:

Points (30; they dropped below 20 points in 13 games).

Yards (394; they had only three other games of 300+ yards).

Yards per play (6.3; best by full yards).

Williams was the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft, while Bryce Young was the No. 1 pick in last year’s draft.

Against Green Bay, Young threw for a season-high 312 yards. It was his only game of 250+ yards. His 110.0 passer rating was also his best of the season and one of only four games with a rating above 90. His 8.67 yards per attempt was his best of the year by almost 1.1 yards.

Young scored his only goals in his last seven games, scoring twice against Green Bay.

Of course, Green Bay’s defense has a different coordinator and different personnel, especially in the secondary. However, Brown, Jaire Alexander, and Keisean devised a plan that would be effective against Nixon; According to PFF, Young was 9-of-9 passing for 146 yards against starting defensive backs.

It will be up to Brown to get Williams and the Bears back on track against the rival Packers.

“After evaluating our entire operation, I have determined that it is in our team’s best interest to move in a different direction with our offensive leadership,” Bears coach Matt Eberflus said in a statement. “This decision was well thought out, conscious and respectful. I would like to thank Shane for his efforts and wish him the best moving forward.

“Thomas has a brilliant attacking mind with experience playing with a collaborative mentality. “I look forward to his leadership of our offensive coaching staff and his plan for our players.”

Chicago has lost three straight. He collected 15 points in the loss to Washington, 9 points in the loss to Arizona and 3 points in the loss to New England.

The Bears went 23 consecutive possessions without scoring.

Williams, one of the most hyped quarterback candidates in years, was supposed to be the savior of the franchise. Chicago surrounded him with a group of potentially elite skill position players. Already featuring receiver DJ Moore and tight end Cole Kmet, the Bears signed receiver Keenan Allen and running back D’Andre Swift in free agency and used their first-round pick on receiver Rome Odunze.

However, the Bears rank 30th in total offense, 31st in yards per play, 28th in rushing per game, and 30th in passing yards per game. They are ranked 31st in the third place.

Critically, Chicago allowed the highest sack percentage in the NFL.

The Bears were 4-0 at home before losing to the Patriots. Following his NFL debut in Chicago’s win over Tennessee, Williams posted passer ratings of 106.6, 126.2 and 124.4 in his next three home starts.

However, against New England, he completed 16-of-30 passes for 120 yards (53.3%) and a 63.2 rating. He didn’t turn the ball over but was sacked nine times.

Williams enters Sunday’s game against the Packers ranked 28th in passer rating, 32nd in completion percentage and 31st in yards per attempt.

Williams was sacked a league-record 38 times. He will face a Packers defense that had eight sacks against Tennessee in Week 3 but has only had one sack in each of the last two games.

“We can all hope for a repeat of one of these types of games, a repeat of Tennessee. Fingers crossed,” defensive end Kingsley Enagbare said.

Brown is a former running backs coach at Wisconsin. While with the Badgers, he helped Melvin Gordon become the Heisman Trophy runner-up in 2014. That season, Gordon and Corey Clement combined for 3,536 rushing yards; that number was very high for teammates in FBS history.

More Green Bay Packers News

Packers in SI Consensus Power Rankings | MarShawn Lloyd returns; Tough choices in the background | Three problems to solve | Rashan Gary and others react to Preston Smith trade | Midseason report card: Coaching and staff | Midseason report card: Defense | Midseason report card: Offense | ESPN fixes its biggest weakness | Predicting every game on the rest of the Packers’ schedule. | How good are the Packers after the bye? | Packers midseason awards | Wild offseason at QB for Packers | Where’s the pass rush? | Edgerrin Cooper among midseason All-Rookie selections