Soldier Field fans booed Sunday when, facing third-and-one in the fourth quarter with an eight-point lead, offensive coordinator Luke Getsy got too cute.
Quarterback Justin Fields lined up in a shotgun formation and walked toward the line of scrimmage to make a blocking call. He backpedaled into formation, switching places with rookie running back Roschon Johnson. As Fields went into motion to the right, the Bears snapped the ball to Johnson, who plunged up the middle — and was stuffed.
Fans had every reason to be upset. Despite having arguably the best running quarterback in the NFL on his roster, Getsy had chosen to let a rookie try to run from the shotgun — where he’d have to sprint five yards just to get to the line of scrimmage, and then gain one more.
On Thursday, Getsy called the direct snap to Johnson “a play that we run 12-15 times a year” that was foiled by blitzing safety Jalen Thompson. Tight end Robert Tonyan pulled and ran right past Thompson, but Getsy said the Bears’ gap blocking scheme meant he was the responsibility of an offensive lineman.
Regardless, it failed spectacularly.
Getsy’s call was the latest example of a problem that, as much as any aspect of the Bears’ flawed offense, has contributed to their biggest losses of the season. Who knows where the Bears would be if running back Khalil Herbert had converted on fourth-and-one against the Broncos with the game tied and three minutes to play? Or if Fields hadn’t been stuffed on third-and-one on the first play of the fourth quarter before the Lions’ miraculous comeback? Or if Fields hadn’t been tripped up on fourth-and-one on the first play of the fourth quarter against the Browns before they staged their own rally? Or if 185-pound rookie receiver Tyler Scott hadn’t been thrown for a three-yard loss on a third-and-one fly sweep on the following drive?
The Bears are slightly better than league average in short-yardage situations; they’ve run 55 offensive plays — 36 runs and 19 passes — or third-and-two or fourth-and-two or shorter this year. They’ve gotten a first down 53.8% of the time, including situations when they punted or tried a field goal, which ranks 14th in the NFL.
But their failures in gotta-have-it moments raise questions about Getsy that will certainly be part of his end-of-year evaluation. It’s Week 17, and the Bears still haven’t developed go-to plays in short yardage. What does that say about Getsy’s ability to problem-solve and to use his players to the best of their abilities?
If coach Matt Eberflus gets a third season, he’ll have to decide whether to bring Getsy along with him. If the Bears plan on drafting a quarterback first overall, he’ll have to decide if he wants Getsy to be the one developing him; if they don’t, he’ll have to ask why the pairing between Getsy and Fields would work in 2024 when it hasn’t been fruitful this season.
Getsy’s short-yardage calls certainly will be evaluated by a franchise that’s wondering why it struggled to finish off close games.
“There’s still a lot of room to grow and improve as a football team,” general manager Ryan Poles said on the Bears’ ESPN1000 pregame show Sunday. “I’ve said it I feel like for two years now. The ability to finish and put games away is critical. We have got to get to that point.”
Fields should be able to gain one yard easier than any quarterback in the NFL.
“You want to put it in your guy’s hands,” Eberflus said this week. “Justin Fields is one of those guys. [Receiver] DJ [Moore] is one of those guys. But you have to have some multiplicity to it also, I think.”
Multiplicity only makes sense if the Bears have mastered their short-yardage staples. And they still haven’t done that.
“We have to do a better job with short yardage,” Eberflus said this week. “There’s no question about that. You have to have a staple, something that you go to.”
The Eagles have one: the “Tush Push.” Quarterback Jalen Hurts, who has fewer rushing yards this season than Fields, takes a snap from under center and lets his backfield-mates shove him past the first-down marker. The Eagles lead the NFL with a first down percentage of 71.9.
“We’ve done that a couple times, but we need to be more effective at that …” Eberflus said. “You need something like that where you can always go to that. And then you need some stuff that hits the perimeter, because teams will load up inside there on you, pack everybody inside and leave themselves vulnerable on the outside. …
“We certainly have that in our arsenal, too. But it just comes down to execution. It comes down to the guys executing the push play better and also the perimeter plays better.”
The Eagles make the “Tush Push” look easy, Getsy said.
“Thirty-one other teams have tried to emulate that — I think we’ve emulated it as well as anybody else,” Getsy said. “It’s incredible, right? They do a great job. And when you watch them do that, what you think, what stands out, is an immediate push, right, where the yard already happens and here comes two or three more yards after that, even, for those guys. It’s pretty incredible.”
Maybe so. But it’s not as impossible as the Bears make it look.
