3 reasons not to blame Justin Fields for loss to Packers

It is easy to jump to blaming the quarterback, but the Chicago Bears did not lose because of Justin Fields
Chicago Bears, Justin Fields
Chicago Bears, Justin Fields / Todd Rosenberg/GettyImages
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 3
Next

3. Luke Getsy was the real culprit

Let's start with the lesser of two issues, here. The Bears, surprisingly, chose not to try and establish the run. Khalil Herbert and Justin Fields each carried the ball nine times, leading the team in carries. Even right off the bat, Luke Getsy didn't seem to want to try and establish the run.

What did that do? It essentially disabled any play-action (not that there was much of that, anyway) and kept the Bears predictable. We went from seeing a Bears team that led the league in rushing last season to a team that didn't seem to want to set the tone in this game. Also, I understand the Bears have three capable backs. But, Getsy has to at least allow one of them to get into a rhythm.

Here is where the real problem lies, though: only four of Fields' 37 pass attempts went past 10 yards downfield. 14 of his pass attempts came behind the line of scrimmage -- fourteen!

How do you allow your strong-armed quarterback with legitimate weapons to attempt 14 passes behind the line of scrimmage? That isn't just malpractice, that is insanity. We heard throughout the offseason how the Bears were going to "take their shots," but we didn't see anything of the sort outside of Fields' touchdown throw to Darnell Mooney late in the game.

The play-calling was downright atrocious from Getsy. It looked like he didn't want to allow Fields to air the ball out or even use their new weapon in D.J. Moore (who received two targets, coming on back-to-back downs). Getsy was the downfall of this Bears team, over anything else, in Week 1.

feed