NEWSLETTER
I like getting lost in the NFL’s non-Bears action when possible. And one of the teams I’ve long enjoyed watching is the Baltimore Ravens. Particularly on offense. And especially when Lamar Jackson is operating at the peak of his powers.
Jackson is one of the league’s most dynamic players. A true dual-threat quarterback, Jackson can use his arm to sling it and his legs to run circles around defenses. Watching Jackson get loose makes me dream on how Justin Fields would play if given a similar playbook.
Well, it turns out that Monday night gave us a sneak peak of Fields with the Ravens playbook. Per Fields (and WBBM Radio Bears sideline reporter Mark Grote), it was the Bears stealing plays from the Ravens playbook:
Who knew first-year Offensive Coordinator Luke Getsy was a master thief? Maybe he found inspiration during the mini-bye while watching Ocean’s Eleven (there’s no way I was the only one who went through his favorite movies catalog during the 10 days between games). Or perhaps he dug into whatever his own favorite heist movies are to create a plan to snatch Baltimore’s playbook. All jokes aside, Getsy likely used the time off to re-evaluate his scheme, Fields’ skills, and sought to make changes to maximize his offense and what his QB1 brings to the table.
And the results were awesome:
Who’da thunk it?
Oh, right … me (#Imagenius)
Something one person might call theft, another might say is inspirational. In the music world, it’s on that fine line of sampling and interpolation. Whatever it is, it was working for the Bears last night.
And what makes this sweeter is that even the Patriots players saw the similarities because they just played the Ravens.
Per Brad Biggs’ latest at the Tribune:
Safety Devin McCourty suggested the Bears borrowed from the Baltimore Ravens game plan when they came to Gillette Stadium in Week 3 and won 37-26 with quarterback Lamar Jackson carrying 11 times for 107 yards and a touchdown.
“Throwing, dropping back, scrambling, more designed runs than we saw on film,” McCourty said. “I think with the extended time, they added some plays we saw in the Baltimore game. Some of those style of plays, but we just didn’t do a good job of keeping him in the pocket.”
Biggs adds these plays have been in the Bears’ playbook since training camp. Which means that the Bears have been stashing this away for the right moment. In other words, Chicago’s offensive game plan was tailored to the (1) players on the field and (2) opponent the team was facing that given week. What a concept. Even if the Bears were straight up swiping Baltimore’s playbook, that the Pats knew what was coming from and still couldn’t stop it speaks to the execution on Chicago’s side of things. Hot dog! Is this how the other side lives? Well done, Coach Getsy.
In the end, I hope this wasn’t a flash in the pan. This better not have been a one-and-done situation. No wham, bam, Bear down, ma’am. Let Fields run. Design more variations from what we saw last night. Shake up the launch points. Let those linemen loose. And send those crossers everywhere. I don’t expect the Bears to create a top-flight offense overnight. However, it would be nice to see the Bears stack multiple solid games. Doing it once and torturing Bill Belichick is a nice start. But doing it at Jerry Jones’ palacial estate in Arlington, Texas, would be a cherry on top.
