For the second week in a row, the Bears dialed up screen passes early and often on offense. They had more success on the short throws this week compared to last week, but Luke Getsy called a screen one too many times, and it might have been their undoing against the Buccaneers.
With the offense backed up near their own goal line late in the fourth quarter, Getsy called a screen– for the second play in a row– and the Bucs were ready. Shaq Barrett read the play all the way, stepped back into the passing lane, reeled in an interception and stepped into the endzone easily for a back-breaking touchdown.
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At the moment it looked like a bad decision at a particularly bad time. After the game however, the Bears didn’t find anything wrong with the play call. Between head coach Matt Eberflus and quarterback Justin Fields the consensus was, “it is what it is.”
“It’s great when it works, and when it doesn’t everyone’s going to criticize,” Eberflus said. “It is what it is. We’re going to look at it. We will look at it, back there, in that part of the field, and we’ll see where it is.”
“(Getsy) went with his gut and (Barrett) ended up making a good play,” said Fields. “It is what it is.”
“(Barrett) made a nice play. He one-handed it then took it back. I mean, he didn’t have far to return it. Called a screen, he made a play on it, picked it off and took it back.”
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Screen passes were a big part of the Bears’ gameplan against the Packers in Week 1 and they were largely ineffective. When reviewing the tape, however, it became clear that execution was a major problem on the screens against Green Bay. Several times the Bears clearly had everyone on defense accounted for, but a missed block would wreck the play.
Eberflus chalked up the Bucs’ pick-six on Sunday to execution, again.
“It’s just the rhythm and timing of it,” Eberflus said. “That’s a rhythm and timing play, and we’ve just got to make sure that’s right. Then, Shaq made a nice play.”
Fields went a step further and said the Bears had tough sledding ahead, no matter the play call.
“In that situation it’s tough, because if you call a deeper pass, you drop back into the endzone and have a potential to take a safety. I think that’s a tough spot regarding play calls for Luke in that position.”
As it turned out, a safety probably would’ve been better for the Bears. By giving up two points instead of seven, the Bears would’ve still been down just one score, and they had timeouts to burn on defense.
Regardless, the Bears will need to learn how to execute their screens better moving forward, or rely on them less to move the ball.