People weren’t ready when the announcement came that the Chicago Bears were targeting Luke Getsy as their next offensive coordinator. For one, the organization had never targeted an assistant from the Green Bay Packers for such a prominent job before. For another, head coach Matt Eberflus was bucking a common trend by hiring a coach with limited play calling experience. Usually, someone with one specific background would prefer the coordinator on the opposite side to be more experienced. Similar to what Matt Nagy did with Vic Fangio and then Chuck Pagano.
Eberflus made it clear that wasn’t his mindset when he targeted Getsy. This was more about the two men having philosophies that aligned. He felt the 37-year old saw the game the same way. How to teach it and coach it. Fans and media were anxious to hear what precisely that philosophy is. They want to know the scheme he has planned for quarterback Justin Fields. Barely five minutes into his first press conference, one thing became crystal clear about Getsy.
It’s not about the plays in his offense. It’s about the players.
This is not a man who is married to any single scheme. That isn’t how he learned the best way to coach. His job is to evaluate his personnel, determine their strengths, and then craft a system around what they do best. Especially the quarterback. The reason Getsy avoided answering questions about the scheme plans about Justin Fields isn’t out of gamesmanship. He hasn’t yet determined what the young QB can or can’t do well.
This mentality seems so alien after what the Bears experienced for the past four years under Matt Nagy. From the moment he arrived in 2018, the former head coach knew the system he would run. It was the Kansas City Chiefs offense. The spread-style attack that made Alex Smith a huge success and would eventually turn Patrick Mahomes into a superstar. That was his endgame, and the job moving forward was finding the best players to fit it. This approach was widely criticized since it often led to talented players being poorly utilized. Especially the quarterbacks.
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Luke Getsy plans to utilize Fields the way Fields wants
Throughout 2021, people couldn’t understand what Nagy was doing. It didn’t matter who was the starting quarterback. The offense never seemed to change. Fields ran the same type of plays Andy Dalton was running when he was the starter. Even though the two were such different quarterbacks, both in terms of style and experience. Where were the bootlegs, the moving pockets, the extensive play action, and the quicker passes?
All things a team normally does for a young QB.
The Bears did them at times but not enough to make Fields comfortable. They deployed him as if they thought he was a 10-year veteran and seemed lost for answers when he struggled. Luke Getsy sounds determined to make sure that doesn’t happen.
This will be done by going in-depth with Fields and asking the most important questions. Namely, what types of plays he thinks he can run and succeed with. Once that is established, the coaches will do the same with the other ten men on offense. In other words, don’t expect any rigid commitment to one scheme or another. This Bears offense is about maximizing what they have as best they can.