Brown underwent surgery on Wednesday night after fracturing his cheekbone at training earlier that day following an accidental knee from teammate Matt Maguire in a marking contest.
It was the third bout of facial surgery for Brown in the past 12 months.
Last July, the Brisbane Lions captain suffered his second horrific injury for 2011 after fearlessly running back with the flight of the ball against Geelong at the Gabba.
On that occasion he ran headlong into oncoming traffic and wore the elbow of teammate Mitch Clark.
Matthews described the act as "crazy courage" in his column for AFL.com.au, but said this time was different.
"I think it's fair to say when you get facial injuries, it's unlucky most of the time," Matthews said.
"To happen three times in 12 months, it's hard to think your luck could be that bad.
"The first one he fell into a chest mark and [Fremantle defender Luke] McPharlin collected him with his knee. The second one, running back with the flight of the ball without looking what's behind you, you're putting yourself at risk there. Even though he's done it a fair few times, if you keep doing it, there's a fair chance you'll run into trouble.
"But he did nothing reckless this time. He was going for a mark and seemingly the third body came flying through, so it was nothing to do with his recklessness."
Matthews, who coached Brown at the Lions for the first nine years of his career, said mental scarring would not be an issue when Brown returned to the field.
"No, that won't be a problem," he said.
"What this will do will hold up his year. He might not get on the field for the first round or two. But after the first few weeks, he'll be back to doing relatively normal training.
"It'll shorten his year a bit [and] won't help the Lions obviously, but it won't have much of an impact on his year except, unfortunately for him and the Lions, a slightly late start."
Matthews said he had never seen such a string of bad luck for one player in his time in the game.
Michael Whiting covers AFL news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_mikewhiting
