Will Luke Getsy Be Next in Long Line?
Bears interest in Luke Getsy as offensive coordinator to call their plays next season apparently runs beyond giving him an interview.
Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated reported Matt Eberflus' interest in interviewing the Green Bay Packers quarterbacks coach for the offensive coordinator spot.
Now longtime Packers writer Tom Silverstein reports Getsy isn't just the favorite for the job, but that the job is his if he wants it. The Bears have actually offered the job to Getsy.
On one hand there is returning to Green Bay with the chance he could become offensive coordinator but not call plays, and could work with Aaron Rodgers again, or may not if the Packers deal their quarterback to Denver or some other team. In that case, he would be working with Jordan Love or some other quarterback acquisition.
On the other hand is calling plays for the rival Bears and working to help develop second-year quarterback Justin Fields under Eberflus.
Getsy, 40, no doubt wants to be a head coach at some point and hasn't been allowed to call plays in the NFL. He did call plays in the 2018 season for Mississippi State as their offensive coordinator. They won eight games, but the records will not show this as they were forced to forfeit all of those wins because of an academic scandal within the team.
Nor can Getsy say he has successfully developed a quarterback since Aaron Rodgers was well established upon his hiring as quarterbacks coach. Jordan Love has been with the team for two years and has one start, a 13-7 loss to Kansas City. He has thrown only 62 passes.
In Getsy, the Bears would be getting an offensive boss with experience in the so-called Shanahan/McVay system as Packers coach Matt LaFleur as a member of the Washington staff with Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay that served as the starting point for this offensive family tree. It's actually derived from Mike Shanahan's offenses in Denver and in Washington.
The negative aspect of this for the Bears would be if Getsy does work out as a play caller and offensive coordinator, it could be a very short stint in Chicago because someone would no doubt pluck him as head coach.
The Bears could only be so lucky. Worrying about that is like the lottery winner getting angry because he now needs a bigger wallet.
Bears Offensive Misery Index
Rank in Ryan Pace's seasons as GM
Year | Scoring rank | Yardage rank | Passing rank | Rushing rank |
---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | 23rd | 21st | 23rd | 11th |
2016 | 28th | 15th | 14th | 17th |
2017 | 29th | 30th | 32nd | 16th |
2018 | 9th | 21st | 21st | 11th |
2019 | 29th | 29th | 25th | 27th |
2020 | 22nd | 26th | 22nd | 25th |
2021 | 27th | 25th | 30th | 14th |
Standard operating procedure for Bears offensive coordinators is to get fired, either with the full coaching staff or by themselves.
The last three Bears offensive coordinators were fired or went down with the ship, so to speak. They left with the fired head coach.
The last to leave for something bigger was Adam Gase, when he became Miami Dolphins head coach after one Bears season in 2015 and a 6-10 record. Before him, there hadn't been one who avoided firing since Gary Crowton left during the 2000 season to become a head coach at BYU.
Ron Turner had left the job willingly after the 1996 season but the job got him later as he was fired following the 2009 season by Lovie Smith after returning to be coordinator for the team that went in 2006 to the Super Bowl.
Bears Offensive Coordinators
1977 Sid Gillman
1978-80 Ken Meyer
1981 Ted Marchibroda
1982-88 Ed Hughes
1989-92 Greg Landry
1993-96 Ron Turner
1997-98 Matt Cavanaugh
1999-00 Gary Crowton
2001-03 John Shoop
2004 Terry Shea
2004-09 Ron Turner
2010-11 Mike Martz
2012 Mike Tice
2013-14 Aaron Kromer
2015 Adam Gase
2016-17 Dowell Loggains
2018-19 Mark Helfrich
2020-21 Bill Lazor
*1970 and 1971 QB coach Perry Moss served as play caller, QB coach Zeke Bratkowski from 1972-74.
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