CLEVELAND – The Bears’ new offense under the direction of coordinator Luke Getsy has been kept tightly under wraps during the offseason installation.
The bare bones of the innovative attack we knew: wide-zone running scheme, play-action, bootlegs, nakeds, and deep shots when possible.
The idea, we were told, was to play to quarterback Justin Fields’ strengths by getting him on the move, cutting the field in half, and using levels of route combinations that force the defense to commit and open up an easy throw for Fields.
The base idea is nothing new. The Shanahan offense has matriculated throughout the NFL, with each new offensive mind putting his own touch on a scheme designed to make life easier on the quarterback.
The Bears kept it vanilla through two preseason games, with Fields and the first-team offense playing just 27 snaps.
Saturday night in Cleveland was Getsy and Fields’ first time to truly give us a look behind the curtain. Two plays in particular, and how they played off one another show just how lethal this attack can be when executed to perfection.
Facing a second-and-4 from their own 38-yard line, Fields faked to running back David Montgomery and bootlegged out to the right. He had three options on the play, one at each level of the field. Fields scanned the defense, saw the cornerback drop to take away the deeper targets, and dumped it off to fullback Khari Blasingame for an easy 6-yard gain and a first down.
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It was a layup throw to keep the chains moving that showed Fields’ growth as an NFL signal-caller. But it also planted a seed in the defense’s mind. One Getsy and Field exploited later in the game against the Browns.
The plan worked to perfection.
Leading the Browns 14-0, the Bears had a first-and-10 at the Cleveland 24-yard line late in the second quarter. That’s when Getsy dialed up the same look as before, believing the hook defender would come up to take away Blasingame this time, leaving the deep man open.
Sure enough. Fields bootlegged right, and saw the hook defender bite on Blasingame while the safety and the corner both went to the post route, leaving Cole Kmet wide-open in the end zone. Fields threw a strike to his tight end and the Bears took a 21-0 lead.
“We ran that play earlier,” Kmet told NBC Sports Chicago after the 21-20 win at FirstEnergy Stadium. “Justin was able to manipulate the defense with his eyes. There’s lots of things we can do. We can run the same play many times in a row and get a different result each time.”
Fields’ speed on the edge and ability to move defenses with his eyes can open up a lot of different options on those bootlegs. Getsy’s scheme and tactical mindset will be a boon to the Bears’ offense this season.
Every play he calls has a purpose, and his offense is designed to put defenses in difficult positions and ask them to make tough choices.
It was just one play in an exhibition game. Fields and the Bears’ starters played five series and scored three times as the second-year quarterback was crisp and efficient in his command of a scheme that’s tailored to who Justin Fields is – a dynamic athlete who wants to attack defenses downfield.
Getsy could very well be the rising star of the 2022 Bears. Early indications are that he is as advertised. If the marriage between his scheme and Fields’ skillset can elevate a sketchy offensive line and an unheralded group of receivers, he’ll quickly become a hot commodity.
After a long offseason spent installing a complex system foreign to everyone other than Equanimeous St. Brown and Lucas Patrick, the Bears finally turned progress into production in Cleveland.
A two-play sequence showed the lethal potential of Getsy’s scheme in Fields’ hands.
“I think it gives all the guys confidence,” Fields said. “We did a great job in giving everyone confidence and trusting the offense and trusting the process of the game.”