‘He’s a great leader in the room’
Bears inconsistency leads to questions about their OC, Steel Valley grad Getsy
An inconsistent offense has left Chicago Bears coordinator and Steel Valley grad Luke Getsy and quarterback Justin Fields open to criticism all season.
Sunday’s 20-17 loss to Cleveland did nothing to fix the situation, and coach Matt Eberflus realizes the time will soon come to quit putting off big questions about the future direction of the offense.
“Sure, oh yeah, no question, no question,” Eberflus said with his team at 5-9. “And we’re going to assess all those things at the end and, again, we’ve got to play these games right here, right now.”
Eberflus for now is behind his offensive coordinator.
“I love Luke,” Eberflus said. “He’s a great leader in the room. Like I said, I’ll evaluate everything at the end.”
Eberflus said he sees improvement on all sides of the football from the team, but points come only sporadically.
Last week’s 17 points included one offensive touchdown. It occurred on an eight-play, 1-yard drive after Eddie Jackson’s interception return.
“I think where we want to go, we know that we have to execute better, period,” Getsy, a Munhall native, said. “More consistency is probably the better way to say it.
“I think week-to-week, one week I come in here ( talking to media), and we’re saying, ‘We executed well.’ And one week I come in here and I say, ‘We didn’t execute well.’”
Their passing yardage totals have remained low, without a net 200-yard game since Fields returned Nov. 19 from four games away with a dislocated thumb. Now the running game seems to have stalled.
No. 1 in rushing last year and fifth now, the Bears haven’t had more than 68 combined yards from running backs in any of the last three games. Rushing issues may have contributed to 4-of-18 conversions on third down last week.
“First and second down, like I said after the game Sunday, we really didn’t get the run game going like we wanted to,” Fields said.
This all occurred after an offensive line plagued by injuries all year finally had the benefit of the same lineup for four straight games.
Now guard Teven Jenkins has a concussion and his status for Sunday against Arizona is uncertain.
Fields called 28 points his goal for the offense each week but the Bears are operating on an every-otherweek basis in this regard.
The offense has failed to score more than 16 points in every other game since Oct. 5, when they beat Washington, 40-20.
Last week’s total included a defensive score on Tremaine Edmunds’ interception return.
This pattern of scoring failures has continued with both Fields and Tyson Bagent at quarterback.
“It’s a chemistry thing,” Getsy said. “Guys are starting to get really comfortable with each other. And so you’re starting to see those things pop up that are really cool.”
Wide receiver DJ Moore has 14 receptions, 71 yards and one touchdown to go before reaching career highs. Yet, they don’t score enough even when backed by a defense now second in the NFL in interceptions with 18.
The Bears are close to seeing their remote playoff chances end but Getsy insists it’s still coming together now on offense.
“That’s what we’re looking for,” he said. “We’re looking for that promise. We’re looking for that growth. And if we can hit this consistently, I think we’re just going to take off and make it what everybody wants it to look like.”
The question for the Bears still to answer is whether it all happens soon enough to save everyone’s job for next season.