No. 25 Illinois rebounds in big way, blasts UMES 87-40LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — Thomas Brown insists he's focused on the job at hand and not the one he might have down the line. His immediate task as the interim coach of the Chicago Bears is helping the team finish strong over the final five games, starting this weekend at San Francisco. The rest of his life can wait. “I think about just the moment. ... I obviously understand the role that I'm in, understand what might come with it," he said Wednesday. "But I also understand that we make most situations bigger than what it has to be because of the outside noise, what everybody else puts a value on it.” The Bears are in a moment unlike any other in the history of the founding NFL franchise. They fired a head coach for the first time during a season when they let Matt Eberflus go on Friday with a 4-8 record and the team in a six-game losing streak marked by head-scratching decisions. They promoted Brown, who in a span of three weeks went from passing game coordinator to offensive coordinator and now the person in charge. The tipping point was a 23-20 loss at Detroit on Thanksgiving, when the Bears let the clock run down rather than call a timeout following a sack. It led to Caleb Williams throwing an incomplete pass from the Lions 41 as time expired when Chicago should have been able to run more than one play. Star cornerback Jaylon Johnson interrupted Eberflus' postgame speech and made his feelings clear. Other players had gone public in recent weeks with their frustrations over the coaching decisions, and they didn't exactly hide their emotions following the Detroit game. On Wednesday, defensive end DeMarcus Walker said he sensed a change was coming after the loss to the Lions. “You guys just look at the whole turnaround, how everything had been going, we just knew some changes were going to be made,” he said. The 38-year-old Brown now has a huge opportunity. He spent last season as Carolina's offensive coordinator and the previous three on Sean McVay's staff with the Los Angeles Rams — the final two as assistant head coach. Prior to that, he spent nine years as a college assistant, including stops at Wisconsin, Georgia, Miami and South Carolina. It's his job to help right a team that came into the season thinking a playoff spot was in reach. Williams' development obviously will be front and center. To that end, the No. 1 overall draft pick has looked more comfortable in the three games since Brown took over for the fired Shane Waldron as offensive coordinator, completing 75 of 117 passes for 827 yards with five touchdowns, no interceptions and a rating of 99.2. Though Brown will continue to call plays, the Bears have another new offensive coordinator in wide receivers coach Chris Beatty. “I think it is a stepping stone actually with my development because I think down the line I’ll have different OCs or different head coaches or whatever the case may be,” Williams said. “And so being able to handle it my first year, handle a new playbook, handle all these different changes, handle all of this I think it definitely will help the development instead of hurting it or anything like that.” Beyond the development of the prized quarterback, Brown also will be judged during his audition for the regular job on his preparation, decisions during games and command of the locker room. He said he reached out to each player individually on Friday and Saturday and tried to set a tone when the team met on Monday. “I want them to be excellent,” Brown said. “I can nitpick at every single play and tell a guy how he wasn’t perfect. And, so, perfection’s not the goal. It’s to excel at your craft.” Notes: The Bears had a lengthy injury report on Wednesday. WRs Keenan Allen (ankle) and DJ Moore (quad), RBs D'Andre Swift (quad) and Roschon Johnson (concussion), DB Elijah Hicks (ankle) and OL Ryan Bates (concussion) all missed practice. S Kevin Byard (shoulder) and OLs Darnnell Wright (knee) and Coleman Shelton (knee) were limited. AP NFL coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/NFLGREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — After losing to San Francisco in the playoffs three of the last five seasons, the Green Bay Packers wouldn’t mind seeing the 49ers get left out of the postseason entirely. The Packers (7-3) could damage San Francisco’s playoff hopes Sunday by beating the 49ers at Lambeau Field. San Francisco (5-5) dropped to .500 after though the 49ers remain just a game behind the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC West. “I think we’re motivated to keep winning more than anything,” Packers center Josh Myers said. “Obviously, they have knocked us out quite a bit. There’s that extra motivation behind it, but at this point, we’re just trying to churn out wins.” The 49ers will be playing this game without starting quarterback Brock Purdy, who in the Seahawks game. Although an MRI showed no structural damage, Purdy's shoulder didn't improve as the week wore on. Brandon Allen will start in Purdy's place. Green Bay is third in the NFC North and two games behind the Detroit Lions, but the Packers appear on track to at least earn a wild-card playoff berth. History suggests their path to a potential Super Bowl would get much clearer if the 49ers aren’t standing in their way. The 49ers trailed 21-14 in the fourth quarter before rallying to in the last year on Christian McCaffrey’s 6-yard touchdown run with 1:07 left. Now, it’s the 49ers who are struggling to protect late leads, as they’ve in three games against divisional opponents. “You could look at, ‘Hey, we’re three possessions away from being 8-2,’ but you can’t really live like that,” 49ers tight end George Kittle said. “Those are the mistakes that we’ve made to be 5-5. It’s not exactly where we want to be. It is frustrating. The nice thing is we have seven games left to go out there and play Niners football and take advantage of those opportunities.” Green Bay’s recent history of playoff frustration against the 49ers also includes a at Lambeau Field in the 2021 divisional playoffs and a in the 2019 NFC championship game. Even the Packers players who weren’t around for last season’s playoff loss realize what this game means. “I think one of the first meetings that I was in here, we had a conversation about the Niners beating us,” said Green Bay safety Xavier McKinney, who joined the Packers this season. “So I understand how important it is, and we all do.” Red-zone concerns Both teams must figure out how to convert red-zone opportunities into touchdowns. The 49ers are scoring touchdowns on just 48.8% of their drives inside an opponent’s 20-yard line to rank 27th in the NFL. The in that regard, scoring touchdowns on 48.7% of their red-zone possessions to rank 28th. In their on Sunday, Green Bay drove to the Bears 5 without scoring on two separate series. Injury issues Purdy isn't the only notable player who won't be participating in Sunday's game. San Francisco won't have four-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Nick Bosa available after he hurt his left hip and oblique against the Seahawks. Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander (knee) and linebacker Edgerrin Cooper (hamstring) also have been ruled out. Kittle expects to play for the 49ers on Sunday after missing the Seahawks game with a hamstring injury. 49ers left tackle Trent Williams (ankle) is questionable. Seeking takeaways Green Bay’s defense the first part of the season, but hasn’t been as effective in getting those takeaways lately. The Packers have 19 takeaways – already exceeding their 2023 total – but haven’t forced any turnovers in their last two games. Heavy load 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan hasn’t eased McCaffrey back into the lineup in his return after missing the first eight games with Achilles tendinitis. McCaffrey has played 91% of the 49ers’ offensive snaps the past two weeks. Jordan Mason, who rushed for 685 yards during McCaffrey’s absence, has just five snaps on offense the last two games. Shanahan said he’d like to get Mason more opportunities, but it’s hard to take McCaffrey off the field. Delivering on third down Green Bay nearly lost to the Bears because of its third-down struggles on both sides of the ball. The Packers were 1 of 5 on third-down opportunities, while the Bears went 9 of 16. The Packers’ defense could have a tough time correcting that problem against San Francisco, which has converted 45.4% of its third-down situations to rank fourth in the league. ___ AP Pro Football Writer Josh Dubow contributed to this report. ___ AP NFL: Steve Megargee, The Associated Press
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