Chicago Bears: What to expect in Week 5 matchup vs Minnesota Vikings
The Chicago Bears coaches need to make bold adjustments
One of the complaints that some people have is over the coaches’ moves. Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy has called an extremely conservative game plan. In Week 1, he called a lot of screens. That is understandable, considering the field conditions. However, that conservative philosophy has continued throughout the season.
Fields has thrown just 67 passes, last in the league. However, about one-third of those (22) came last week.
Against New York, the Bears were in the red zone three times, yet came away with no touchdowns. They ran nine plays in the red zone. Five of them were runs (mostly up the middle) and four were dropbacks. However, of those four, two were screens, and one resulted in a sack.
Getsy needs to open up the playbook more with the offense. Sure, there will be some bad plays. The players are still learning the system and there are some inferior players. The point of the season, though, is to develop the young players, especially Fields. Having him turn around and hand the ball off twice as many times as he drops back to pass won’t help him.
On defense, the adjustments need to happen quicker. Last week, the Giants killed the Bears’ defense with bootlegs and play actions. It seemed as if Giants quarterback Daniel Jones and Fields switched bodies. Every time Jones ran the bootleg, he had wide open space. That resulted in two rushing touchdowns for him.
The Bears did an excellent job of stopping that in the second half. However, it cost them 14 points before they made the adjustments. Once they did make them, the defense kept the Giants out of the end zone. Quicker adjustments could have resulted in a victory.
We talk about how the players have to adjust to the coaches. However, the coaches also have to adjust to their players. This is a brand new coaching staff and they are learning what they have in their players. The more they know about their players the quicker the adjustments come (hopefully).