Luke Getsy spent three seasons as Aaron Rodgers’ quarterbacks coach before joining the Bears as their offensive coordinator in 2022. At no point during that time did he witness Rodgers take a single snap in a preseason game. Rodgers hasn’t played in the preseason since 2018 — and even then, he threw four passes.
“This is just a different situation,” he said.
This means Bears quarterback Justin Fields starting and playing limited snaps in Saturday’s exhibition opener against the Titans.
Rodgers has played 18 seasons and counting; Bears quarterback Justin Fields has played 25 games. He has new receivers, running backs and offensive linemen with whom to jel.
“I think it kind of falls back into the chemistry thing, right?” Getsy said Thursday. “Getting that group, kind of for the first time. Having that experience for the first time.”
Previous Bears coaches have vacillated between playing starters in the preseason and sitting them. Mitch Trubisky didn’t throw a single preseason pass in 2019; the next year, Matt Nagy said he regretted that decision.
Getsy hinted that the controlled environment of Bears’ two joint practices next week in Indianapolis could be more valuable than preseason game action, anyway.
“Your quarterback is still wearing a different colored [non-contact] jersey, all that stuff,” he said. “But everything’s happening faster and it’s a different opponent, so you get to play the game speed.”
