The Chicago Bears offense looked completely different in Monday night’s 33-14 win over the New England Patriots.
A big reason for that was offensive coordinator Luke Getsy preparing a game plan that fit the strengths of his players, notably quarterback Justin Fields, who had his best game as a pro.
While Fields didn’t “wow” through the air, he showed his playmaking ability, especially when it comes to making something special happen with his legs. Fields had 82 rushing yards on 14 carries and a touchdown.
Before Monday night’s game, the Bears had called 12 designed quarterback runs for Fields through six games. Against the Patriots, they dialed it up for eight designed runs, which seemed to light a spark under this Bears offense.
“I thought they were good,” Fields said of the designed runs, via NBC Sports Chicago. “I thought it brought a whole different element to our offense. I thought we executed that well and they were definitely some explosives in the designed runs for sure.”
It was something that the Patriots weren’t expecting, as there hadn’t been a lot of designed QB runs on film from Chicago. But credit Getsy for not only playing to Fields’ strengths but also attacking a weakness of the Patriots defense. New England suffered at the hands of Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson back in Week 3.
“(Fields) just made a lot of plays… Throwing, dropping back, scrambling, more designed runs than we saw on film,” said Patriots safety Devin McCourty, via Michele Steele. “I think with the extended time they added some plays that I think we saw in the Baltimore game with Lamar Jackson.”
The designed runs definitely brought a spark to this offense. But it also gives opposing defenses something else to consider when preparing to face this Bears offense.
Heck, it even caught Bill Belichick by surprise.
“We knew what his ability was, but once a couple of those (designed runs) started hitting early in the game, you know we could see that was the way the game was going to go,” Belichick said, via NBC Sports Chicago. “I would say it was still a surprise, but once it was declared we were definitely playing for it. We didn’t do a great job defending it.”
