HC Matt Eberflus was very proud of his OC Luke Getsy after Monday's game
A sense of disappointment had to be creeping in as the Chicago Bears entered Monday's contest against the New England Patriots ranked among the NFL's bottom three in scoring and total offense.
Yet the franchise and its fanbase should have left the 33-14 victory with a far greater appreciation of what quarterback Justin Fields can still become when utilized correctly.
One of the biggest reasons for the great performance was the near-perfect offensive play calling by OC Luke Getsy.
Well, here is what Larry Mayer had to say about this subject:
Eberflus praised offensive coordinator Luke Getsy for keeping the Patriots defense off balance by varying his play calls.
After a thorough evaluation during the mini-bye, the Bears called more designed quarterback runs and read-option plays than at any point this season. Justin Fields took advantage of the opportunities by rushing for a game-high 82 yards and one touchdown on 14 carries.
"The mix and match of the in-pocket, out-of-pocket, the different protections we were using to really focus on the strengths of our football team and our offensive unit I thought was excellent," Eberflus said. "[Getsy] really did a nice job of keeping things off balance for the opponent, and it was good."
That was particularly true on third down as the Bears converted 11-of-18 opportunities (61.1 percent). It was their most third-down conversions since Sept. 13, 2015, when they were successful on 11-of-17 chances against the Packers.
Fields was responsible for 10 of the 11 third-down conversions via five passes for 89 yards and five rushes for 38 yards.
Asked what impressed him most about the quarterback's performance on third down, Eberflus said: "Just the efficiency of it. Of course it matters how you get it done, but it's getting it done, so that's important. He utilized his legs when he needed to. We thought he executed well on third down and the numbers show that."
The Bears had converted just 4-of-21 plays of third-and-10 or more in their first six games. But on the same drive Monday night, Fields scrambled for 20 yards on third-and-14 and completed a 17-yard pass to Darnell Mooney on third-and-16.
The pass to Mooney helped the offense dig out of a second-and-25 situation and set up Cairo Santos' 23-yard field goal as time expired in the first half, giving the Bears a 20-14 lead. It also helped the Bears double up with field goals on the final drive of the first half and the opening possession of the second half.
"When you get to those parts of the halves�the end of half and the start of the half�those are important parts of the game for us," Eberflus said. "We really talk about those. We really work those in practice and we really teach and coach those during the course of the week. Those are important pieces for us to be successful as an offense, defense and kicking team."
After a thorough evaluation during the mini-bye, the Bears called more designed quarterback runs and read-option plays than at any point this season. Justin Fields took advantage of the opportunities by rushing for a game-high 82 yards and one touchdown on 14 carries.
"The mix and match of the in-pocket, out-of-pocket, the different protections we were using to really focus on the strengths of our football team and our offensive unit I thought was excellent," Eberflus said. "[Getsy] really did a nice job of keeping things off balance for the opponent, and it was good."
That was particularly true on third down as the Bears converted 11-of-18 opportunities (61.1 percent). It was their most third-down conversions since Sept. 13, 2015, when they were successful on 11-of-17 chances against the Packers.
Fields was responsible for 10 of the 11 third-down conversions via five passes for 89 yards and five rushes for 38 yards.
Asked what impressed him most about the quarterback's performance on third down, Eberflus said: "Just the efficiency of it. Of course it matters how you get it done, but it's getting it done, so that's important. He utilized his legs when he needed to. We thought he executed well on third down and the numbers show that."
The Bears had converted just 4-of-21 plays of third-and-10 or more in their first six games. But on the same drive Monday night, Fields scrambled for 20 yards on third-and-14 and completed a 17-yard pass to Darnell Mooney on third-and-16.
The pass to Mooney helped the offense dig out of a second-and-25 situation and set up Cairo Santos' 23-yard field goal as time expired in the first half, giving the Bears a 20-14 lead. It also helped the Bears double up with field goals on the final drive of the first half and the opening possession of the second half.
"When you get to those parts of the halves�the end of half and the start of the half�those are important parts of the game for us," Eberflus said. "We really talk about those. We really work those in practice and we really teach and coach those during the course of the week. Those are important pieces for us to be successful as an offense, defense and kicking team."
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