Getsy offers in-depth breakdown of Fields' first INT vs. Texans originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Justin Fields' Week 3 performance against the Houston Texans was filled with lowlights. The Bears' young quarterback admitted as such when he called his performance "trash" after the 23-20 win.
One of the biggest blemishes of Fields' day came when he missed a wide-open Cole Kmet down the seam and was picked off. It was a play that appeared to signal that Fields' rebuilt footwork and mechanics might be coming untangled.
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After the game, Fields said he just missed the throw. On Wednesday, the 23-year-old quarterback said the ball came out of his hand funnily as he let it go.
The interception wasn't pretty, but offensive coordinator Luke Getsy saw a lot of good from Fields on the play. Getsy didn't see it as a breakdown in footwork, though. Quite the opposite.
"So what happened on that one. He actually used phenomenal footwork because it happened much faster than we anticipated," Getsy explained Thursday. "The nickel ran outside of Cole so fast because of the bubble that was coming to him, that Cole just popped.
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"So [Fields] actually did a great job of shutting his feet down. But just a little bit mechanically when he went to throw it like you said, he got a little bit long with his delivery, long with his stride, so whenever it came out of his hand, you could tell that it just came out funny because it was actually a brilliant play by him. How he handled it and his decision-making, all that was great. Like you said, he just missed a throw. Those ones, that will happen every once in a while. Again, we can tighten up mechanically what we can do with him, but how he handled that play, he actually handled it really well, we just got to make the throw."
Fields' subpar play and lack of pass attempts have been a hot topic of conversation through the first three weeks.
Fields has completed just 23 passes in three games and attempted only 45, the fewest of any starting quarterback to play in the first three games. That, coupled with the Bears' penchant to hand the ball off on third-and-medium/long, would appear to point to a lack of trust in Fields.
Getsy claims nothing could be farther from the truth.
"No. No. Not at all," Getsy said when asked about Fields' passing attempts. "We do what we feel is best to help our team play a team football game, to help us win games. I give a lot of credit to guys like him and receivers and Cole. Those guys got to do so much dirty work. They would love to be just running routes, catching balls. But we've got to do what's best across the board, how we can take advantage of matchups sometimes. And sometimes, hopefully, as we go along, it'll be different each week. I think how we kind of view it, it has been different each week. Maybe from an outsider looking in just looking at it, it doesn't appear that way, but it really has been. We really have approached each game plan much different.
"Like I said we put a lot on those guys. Like Justin has so much that he has to handle throughout the game plan. And he does such an unbelievable job with it. It's been more of a crutch for me because of how much he can handle. The receivers, the same thing. We ask them to do so many different splits and alignments and assignments. They've been rock stars."
As Fields, Getsy, and the Bears search for ways to fix their toothless passing attack, finding a way to reignite the connection between Fields and Mooney has to be near the top of the list.
Fields said he felt he was too locked in on Mooney at times in Week 3. He has to be patient and not try and force it to the Bears' top receiver.
"We still have the connection," Fields said. "We're not going to force it. I feel like, y'all talking about it—You know, I was staring him down a few too many times in the game. He probably told me that to: 'Bro, don't try to force anything; just let it all come.' That's what we're going to do. When the time comes, that time will come."
The Bears' passing game is the worst in the NFL through three weeks. They rank last in completions, completion percentage, passing yards, and passer rating. Fields has only completed 23 passes, and only 11 of those have gone to wide receivers.
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Getsy and the Bears' offensive staff must find a way to get Fields more comfortable and in rhythm early in games. A lot of the onus falls on Fields to play better. He knows that.
But the Bears still are seeing a lot of positives in Fields' play, even during situations with an unideal outcome. It's just about eliminating the negatives and finding consistency.
For Fields, that starts with flushing the game against the Texans and getting back in the lab.
"Just learn from my mistakes," Fields said. "When you don't have a game that you want to play as well in, all I really know, my response to that is get back to work and keep working."
Getsy and the Bears hope to see the fruits of that labor Sunday when they face the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium with a chance to improve to 3-1.
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