Method to Luke Getsy's 'Madness'

Some Bears fans might wonder what Luke Getsy is doing with Justin Fields throwing 45 times in three games, so he sought to explain the logic behind these tactics.

What Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy said Thursday might have made some Bears fans feel better about where Justin Fields is at and the team's passing attack in geneal.

Then again, maybe they're selling the season's tickets on Craigslist.

It's a message received in a highly subjective manner and there is merit to what Getsy said. 

It's just so difficult to accept some of what he says in an age when every team passes the ball on two-thirds of plays and the Bears have thrown 45 times in three games.

1. Jalen Pitre Interception on Pass to Cole Kmet

Getsy found something positive about Fields on an interception.

"He actually used phenomenal footwork because it happened much faster than we anticipated," Getsy said. "The nickel (cornerback) ran outside of Cole so fast because of the bubble that was coming to him, that Cole just popped (open).

"So (Fields) actually did a great job of shutting his feet down. But just a little bit mechanically when he went to throw it like you said, he got a little bit long with his delivery, long with his stride, so whenever it came out of his hand, you could tell that it just came out funny because it was actually a brilliant play by him. How he handled it and his decision-making, all that was great."

Fields had said Wednesday the ball slipped out of his hand as he threw.

"Those ones, that will happen every once in a while," Getsy said. "Again, we can tighten up mechanically what we can do with him, but how he handled that play, he actually handled it really well, we just got to make the throw."

2. The Second-Year Rookie

Getsy and backup quarterback Trevor Siemian immediately were trying to get a feel for Fields' confidence after the intercepted pass to Kmet.

"He's basically a rookie, right, even still and he's going through these experiences for the first time," Getsy said. "And to then just think, I made a really bad decision and then not really know why, I think it's important to make sure you're explaining to them why things happened."

At least in terms of total starts, Fields is a rookie with 13 of them. And while it's his second season, each has been in a different offense with different coaches and really, except for Darnell Mooney and Cole Kmet, different receivers. 

The pick was what Getsy calls a teaching moment or learning moment.

"And so, I think that's just hopefully how we’re all coaching across the board here," he said.

3. It's Not 100% About Fields

This is a difficult one to accept for fans of a quarterback-starved team.

"We do what we feel is best to help our team play a team football game, to help us win games," Getsy said. "I give a lot of credit to guys like (Darnell Mooney) and receivers and Cole. Those guys gotta do so much dirty work. They would love to be just running routes, catching balls. But we've got to do what's best across the board, how we can take advantage of matchups sometimes. And sometimes hopefully as we go along, it'll be different each week.

"I think how we kind of view it, it has been different each week. Maybe from an outsider looking in just looking at it, it doesn't appear that way, but it really has been."

The play-calling isn't an attempt to build Fields above all else.

"We're calling the game we feel is best to attack with our matchups," Getsy said. "The perspective is that everything is just because it's through Justin. But we have 10 other gusy that we have to account for, too. Sometimes we aren't able to go five wide and spread people out, because matchups we have to deal with. That goes into a lot of things. As we go through the games we've just gotta find our way to take advantage of the matchups that we feel really good about, and stay away from those matchups that we don't feel good about."

4. Increased Darnell Mooney Coverage

In the past, Mooney was covered more like a second receiver, although that seemed to change through the course of last season. Now there's no doubt about it with Allen Robinson in Los Angeles.

"It's always different when you're the No. 1 guy for sure," Getsy said. "That's definitely a different perspective that a team's going to have about you than maybe if you weren't viewed as that before, for sure."

5. Increased Darnell Mooney Targets

After the loss to Green Bay, coach Matt Eberflus said they had to do a better job of getting it to their main weapons, Mooney and Kmet.

Apparently the message has been understood by Getsy, even if they only got it to each twice last game. 

Still, this was an improvement over previous games.

"I mean Darnell is a big part of what we do, and if we’re going to go where we want to go he's got to be a part of it," Getsy said. "I know that."

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