After another ineffective week for the Chicago Bears offense, some fans have run out of patience with offensive coordinator Luke Getsy and his playcalling and are letting the world know on social media that they want to see a change.
Less than an hour after Sunday’s 27-17 loss in Tampa, the phrase “Fire Luke Getsy” was trending on X as dozens of Bears fans aired their frustrations with the offense and called on head coach Matt Eberflus to consider making a change to his coaching staff.
“It’s time to fire Luke Getsy and get a real OC,” one fan tweeted.
The mob followed with similar sentiments. Numerous fan accounts changed their display names to “Fire Luke Getsy,” while others got more specific about how they believe Getsy’s playcalling is misusing Fields and his physical gifts as a scrambler.
“This should be a fireable offense,” Another fan wrote in reference to the Bears calling four designed runs for Fields in two weeks. “Then when you account for the lack of read-option plays, that should be a fireable offense. Then seemingly coaching the scrambling out of Fields (who had over 1,000 yards rushing yard last year) should be a fireable offense. Wait, why is Getsy here?”
It wasn’t just the fans who were tired of seeing the commitment to screen passes, either. Former running back Matt Forte — who caught plenty of screens over his 554 career receptions — was astounded that the Bears kept going back to the same play, sometimes on back-to-back sequences, when it proved to be ineffective against the Buccaneers.
Jarrett Payton, son of Bears legend Walter Payton, couldn’t have agreed more.
ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky Also Calls Out Getsy’s Playcalling
Fans weren’t the only ones critical of Getsy’s playcalling. In lieu of being on Get Up on Monday morning, ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky shared some of his Week 2 film analysis on X and was incredulous watching Fields’ pick-six in the fourth quarter. Not because he felt the quarterback made a bad decision or throw, but because the Bears called the exact same screen on back-to-back plays, which the Buccaneers detected and capitalized on.
“Very next play, literally the very next play, we’re going to run the same exact thing? To the same exact side? I don’t know if I’ve seen that done where they run the same exact screen — traditional screen, like back-insert screen — to the same side,” Orlovsky said between sighs. “I mean, Shaq Barrett and Lavonte David have seen 10,000 snaps together. Of course they’re going to sniff stuff like this out. It’s the same play! It’s the same back-insert screen to the same side! That’s not on the quarterback, man.”
Adam Hoge of CHGO Bears expressed similar frustration with the screens during the postgame show.
“These screens have to go, they just have to go. Like, if this is the playcall sheet, if this part of it is screens, I’m just gonna rip that part off and then we’re going to rip up, Luke Getsy,” Hoge said, demonstrating with his own sheet of paper. “That’s what you need to do this week. The screen part of the playcall sheet, go away.”
Lavonte David: ‘Everbody Knew What Was Coming’
Sometimes, fans are just mad and their criticisms of the team can be dismissed as emotional responses to losses. When the Buccaneers themselves are picking up on the repetition in playcalling, though, there is an obvious problem in the decision-making.
After Sunday’s game, Buccaneers linebacker Lavonte Davis was asked about what he saw on Shaq Barrett’s pick-six at the Bears’ own 4-yard line that effectively sealed their victory, and it was clear that none of the Buccaneers were fooled by Getsy’s playcall.
“They called a screen. It was the same formation, everybody knew what was coming,” David told reporters in the locker room after the game.
As an offensive coordinator, fans and critics can be tuned out when there is evidence that a game plan can and will work. But when the predictability of that plan and the playcalls become obvious to the opposing defense, there is a serious problem.
Let JF1 call his own plays for a game or two, then we’ll all know who to let go of.