Luke Getsy Took Blame For Some Of Justin Fields’ Miscues Vs. 49ers

Justin Fields had what can be characterized as a fine game against the San Francisco 49ers. It was ugly in the first half. Fields threw a bad interception over the middle and didn’t handle the pressure well. Then in the second half, he regained his footing with two big touchdown passes to engineer a comeback win. While plenty of critics were glad to pile on Fields for the inconsistent performance, his offensive coordinator Luke Getsy came to his defense.

The 37-year-old entered his first game as a play-caller in the NFL. So it was a learning experience on his part. On Thursday, he made that clear to Bears media when discussing Fields’ performance. Some of the miscues weren’t on the quarterback. One moment he highlighted was the second interception Fields almost threw to Tashaun Gipson midway through the 3rd quarter. It looked like merely a bad decision by the QB. Getsy revealed it was more due to his own mistake.

Luke Getsy takes the blame for Justin Fields' near interception to Tashaun Gipson. He called a play that was designed to go to Dante Pettis, but EQ was in there. EQ hadn't practiced that route on that play and the timing was off.

— Adam Hoge (@AdamHoge) September 15, 2022

The tape backed up Luke Getsy too.

As the play unfolds, St. Brown is running in motion to his right. Fields snaps the ball and the receiver runs a wheel route. Then around the 42-yard line, he appears to run a curl to the outside. However, Fields places the ball more to the inside, giving Gipson a clear shot at picking it off. It feels like St. Brown should not have faded to the sideline. That corroborates Getsy’s assessment about him being unfamiliar with how to run the route correctly. If St. Brown stays to the inside, that’s a completion.

It is another reminder of how new this offense is. Luke Getsy only started installing it a few months ago. There were always going to be growing pains for everybody involved. Miscommunications are inevitable. One can safely assume Getsy will limit such mistakes in the future with better substitutions and better pre-game preparation. Either way, good on him for going to bat for his young quarterback.