The words “Shanahan offense” have become the biggest buzzword in the NFL. Half of the fans do not even know what it means, but every fan wants it to be their offense. When the Chicago Bears hired Luke Getsy to be their offensive coordinator, rumors quickly spread that this meant that Chicago is adopting the Shanahan offense.
This was easy to put together- Getsy comes from Green Bay where he worked with Matt LeFleur, and LeFleur spent his younger days working with Kyle Shanahan. Surely, Getsy is a Shanahan disciple who will run his offense. Not so fast, my friend.
It is certain that Getsy learned plenty from LeFleur, who learned his offensive ways from Shanahan. It is likely that Getsy will use elements of things he learned from LeFleur in his offense. However, if you are expecting the Shanahan offense to a tee you are going to be mistaken.
Chicago Bears OC Luke Getsy is a part of the Joe Moorhead coaching tree
Whether you like it or not, Getsy never worked with Kyle Shanahan, so for as much wisdom as he can take away, there is only so much. Beyond that, he spent three years with LeFleur spent about seven years with Shanahan. That is why those two are so close. Getsy has a connection but is not with this tree.
In fact, it is not the buzzword tree that gets everyone excited, but if you were going to put Getsy in the coaching tree it would be Joe Moorhead. Moorhead is the head coach of Akron and was the OC at Oregon.
When Getsy was in college, Moorhead was the offensive coordinator at Akron. Getsy went to Pitt, Moorhead is a Pittsburgh native, and he convinced Getsy to transfer and play for him. This is in 2005.
Getsy played for Moorehead, then started his career as an assistant with Joe Moorhead.
Getsy bounced around, but it was another Pittsburgh native, Mik McCarthy, who hired Moorhead from Western Michigan to Green Bay.
In fact, when Matt Lefleur was hired, he actually did not even retain Getsy. Getsy left for Mississippi State to work with his man Joe Moorhead, and call plays in the SEC.
After a year without Getsy, Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams asked LeFleur to bring him back, and he obliged.
When you read the whole story of how Getsy got to this place, there is very little Kyle Shanahan or Shanahan offense. Up until three years ago he was very strictly running an RPO, and QB option attack that Joe Moorhead runs. Yes, he spent three years with LeFleur, but as noted, most of those duties were actually blending old McCarthy principles with LeFleur stuff.
Yes, Getsy probably learned a ton about offense the past three seasons and will use that to his advantage. However, to say that he is from the Shanahan tree, or will bring a Shanahan-type offense is a bit lazy and does look into his history beyond the last year or so.