The Chicago Bears will be off during Week 13 as they are on their bye following a Monday Night victory over the Minnesota Vikings. Following the 12-10 win against the Vikings, offensive coordinator Luke Getsy was criticized heavily for his constant use of screen passes for quarterback Justin Fields. Although Getsy’s play-calling has been questionable throughout the 2023 season, he has been put in a difficult position, especially with Fields’ sporadic output through eight starts this year.
Getsy’s Perception Has Been Unfairly Hindered By Fields At Times
With one month of football left in the 2023 season, Bears fans and the media are calling for the firing or replacement of Getsy as the team’s offensive coordinator. Many believe he has hindered the development of Fields, as a few media members believe the play-caller is deliberately trying to force the young quarterback into situations that do not favor his strengths. Fans have expressed that Chicago’s offense should feature more deep passes and designed runs for the third-year quarterback to highlight his superb arm strength and elite mobility.
The issue Fields creates for Getsy is that the quarterback’s inability to read opposing defenses and hesitation when having open targets downfield hides what Chicago’s offensive coordinator is designing from a gameplan standpoint. Too often this season has there been situations where the Bears’ quarterback has held onto the ball way too long, resulting in either missed opportunities for significant gains or a sack. There have been numerous games this year where Fields has had a wide-open receiver in front of him and did not make a throw, whether it was against the Green Bay Packers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Minnesota Vikings.
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Monday Night’s game against the Vikings is a prime example of Fields’ hesitancy, resulting in Getsy receiving harsh criticism for his offensive game plan. Despite Chicago’s play-caller consistently dialing up wide receiver and running back screens throughout the game against the Vikings, a good portion of his quarterback’s incompletions came when downfield and vertical passing plays were called. Fields had ten incomplete passes against Minnesota, with most of the incompletions being throwaways once pressure was applied.
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Getsy is stuck in a no-win situation with his quarterback because most fans only saw the constant screen passes and not the vertical play calls to get the ball downfield because Fields was not throwing the ball. When Chicago played Minnesota in Week 6, the offensive play-caller was criticized for not finding a way to counteract the relentless blitzing applied by the opposing defense. In the second game between the two teams, Getsy’s main objective was to beat the defensive blitzes by getting the ball out of Fields’ hands with quick screens.
If Fields could have pulled the trigger on three or four of the deep passes that were dialed up for him, it would have made a tremendous difference in the perception fans had about the offensive game plan. One vital moment that was a missed opportunity for Chicago’s quarterback was in the second quarter, where he rolled out of the pocket after facing pressure and threw too high of a pass to wide receiver Darnell Mooney, who was wide open. Had Fields connected on the pass to Mooney, it would have been a third-down conversion and pass completion of more than 20 yards.
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Getsy Has Been Making The Effort To Develop Fields As A Passer Despite What Others Believe
One of the main complaints against Getsy has been the belief that he has been trying to turn Fields into a pocket passer similar to Aaron Rodgers. Fans and the media have been calling for play designs to that of last season when the Bears offense was averaging over 27 points per game for nearly a five-game stretch. Additionally, although Fields rushed for over 1,000 yards last year, he was adamant about developing as a passing quarterback and not being utilized as a rusher constantly.
At the beginning of this season, Fields had only a few designed rushing plays called in the Bears’ first two games. Following the 27-17 loss to the Buccaneers, the Bears’ quarterback was critical of the offensive coaching staff being one reason why he struggled to begin the year and stated that he was going to play more like himself in the team’s next game. The following week against the Kansas City Chiefs, Fields passed for only 99 yards on 11 completions with a touchdown in a 41-10 blowout loss.
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Fields’ play vastly improved in weeks four and five as he recorded back-to-back games with four passing touchdowns and throwing for 282 yards or more. The media and fanbase were quick to praise the quarterback but not the coordinator for the stellar play and offensive output. Getsy was also not given credit for the play of backup quarterback Tyson Bagent, who started four games and assisted the Bears to a 2-2 record in the four games Fields was sidelined with a dislocated thumb.
Since returning, Fields has played well as he had a terrific game against the Lions and recorded his first game-winning drive of his career in the last-second win against Minnesota. Despite how well fans and media have viewed the quarterback’s performances, Getsy has received harsh criticism in back-to-back games despite Chicago’s offense scoring 26 points against the Lions and dialing up a clutch passing play on the 36-yard pass completion to wide receiver DJ Moore with less than a minute left in the game.
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Chicago fans need to understand that they can’t praise one while criticizing another when it comes to the offensive coordinator and the quarterback. It is either Fields is good because of Getsy or vice versa, as there has been steady production from both the quarterback and the offense, which is the responsibility of the coordinator. The offensive play-calling has been hit-or-miss this season, but the Bears offensive coordinator will not see any credit if his quarterback has success but will receive all the criticism if poor play is had.
The situation regarding Getsy and Fields is a serious issue and the failure rests upon both. Fields is definitely limited with defensive recognition and holding on the ball to long, as well as missing or failing to hit the open WR. Getsy is troubling when calling the game plan that is really avoiding Fields greatest strengths which involve a moving pocket, deep pass plays and Fields legs. Unfortunately for Getsy, he is likely to be fired at seasons end and that could also include the firing of Eberflus. But I do not see the Bears moving on from J Fields… Read more »
@Bubba Ho-Tep. You need a job at analyzing football. Maybe if Cunningham leaves, you can take that job. Your analysis of Fields’ personality and character, and the meshing of the Getsy system and Fields may or may not be spot on, but there is an approach that should be explored. I do think that Fields can integrate playing West Coast with his downfield and ability to run. Steve Young was integrated well into an adapted West Coast. Getsy himself, seems too rigidly bound to his “gameplan” which isn’t accounting for adjustments made by the opposition or forcing adjustments on the… Read more »
Getsy is calling the plays that Fields is comfortable with. The play calling was more elaborate with Bagent in the game. Not saying he is the answer either, but I would like to see 2-3 more games before the draft.
So now it’s better to throw screen passes for 3 downs and punt than to at least try to put the ball down field once in a while. What’s the difference between an intercepted pass 40 yards down field or a 50 yard punt with a 10 yard return? Point being we need to try. It couldn’t be worse than watching 97 screen passes that go nowhere.
I can live with the idea that they may see one of the QBs in this draft as more likely to succeed than Fields. What bothers me is that this staff has not even tried to fix the problems at Center, and when Davis has been out, at Guard. I will say it until I am blue in the face – you have Ja’Tyre Carter and Doug Kramer. Why not try them and see if they are even marginal improvements over Patrick and Whitehair? Why not do everything to try and put the best, most sound OL in front of… Read more »