Bears Were Forewarned Justin Fields And Luke Getsy Wouldn't Work

Sometimes, warnings come too early for a team to recognize them. The Chicago Bears were desperate for a quarterback in 2021. Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy had to find a savior to erase the Mitch Trubisky failure. They thought they got lucky when Justin Fields fell to the 11th spot where they could trade up. Sadly, the Hail Mary didn't work out. Fields struggled most of his rookie season; the team went 6-11, and Pace and Nagy were fired. Ryan Poles hired Matt Eberflus to take over, and he brought in Luke Getsy to run the offense. His reasoning was a desire to run the highly successful wide-zone system made famous by the 49ers, Rams, and Packers, among other teams.

It was a logical move. However, it demonstrated a lack of personnel assessment on his part. Even before Eberflus arrived, there were warning signs that Fields wasn't a good fit for that offense. How do we know? Look back to the 2021 draft. New York and San Francisco held the #2 and #3 picks, respectively. Both teams ran the wide-zone offense. Both opted for far less proven quarterbacks (Zach Wilson and Trey Lance) rather than Fields. They might have sensed he didn't have the necessary traits to fit what they wanted to do.

After watching the past 21 games together, it's evident things aren't working.

Robert Schmitz of Da Bears Blog had some telling words about the situation after re-watching the frustrating loss to Minnesota on Sunday.

"Watching the #Bears tape is a mess -- nothing meshes together. What Getsy wants to do isn't what Fields wants to do, and the Bears can't do what Fields wants to do well against blitzing teams.

You can tell Getsy's answers to Minnesota's blitzes were quick throws out wide, but Fields couldn't execute some of them and Whitehair's snaps ruined others...

...It's easy to make this out to be a QB-only problem, but it's the same problem we've seen all season -- when the Bears' initial plan doesn't work, Getsy and Fields' philosophical disagreements result in awful football that can't even compete with opposing defenses."

Justin Fields was doomed the moment Getsy arrived.

That may seem over the top, but it fits with the evidence. The best experts on the wide-zone didn't give him much consideration. Kyle Shanahan, the foremost expert, didn't even have him in his top two choices. That should tell you everything you need to know. Eberflus' willingness to look past that glaring red flag when he hired Getsy was the first sign he didn't have a firm grasp on constructing a proper offensive coaching staff. You're done for when the quarterback and offensive coordinator are a bad match right out of the gate.

Looking back at everything that went wrong, that decision will probably be one Eberflus wishes he could've made differently. Now he, Getsy, and Justin Fields are likely out of jobs when the season ends in January. Maybe we will get a glimpse of how Getsy wants the offense to actually look under the guidance of undrafted rookie Tyson Bagent. He is set to start on Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders. If he performs well, that may give you an idea of how bad of a fit Fields was.