It’s really bad. Like… people might need to be fired.
Justin:
Not a good game. Mostly the second half was the worst until the final drive. Very inconsistent. Made some amazing throws and missed some others. Started turning down routes later in the game. Took at least one unnecessary hit. Kept sinking back at the end of his drop in the second half. He flashed as usual but it’s not good enough rn. JT thinks he can be the guy but doesn’t know if it will ever happen with this situation he’s in. Might have to be with another staff or somewhere else. He likes him but he doesn’t see any anticipation at all. He’s unsure if it’s something with the coaches, Justin, or both. One thing for sure, we can’t have this. Need to be better or else you’re not gonna last in the league.
The first fumble was bad. He decided to just take off because he wasn’t trusting his protection. Didn’t give the RB a chance and the defender made a play. He missed Mooney that was coming open up top.
Second fumble was bad, but Kmet also missed the block.
On a positive note, it did seem like Fields’ footwork was decent and faster for a moment. His release was faster at times too.
Gameplan:
Bros, it’s bad. The first play was terrible from a personnel choice stand point. Why Kmet? We know he’s decent but he’s not a WR type.
Overall there were way too many screens. On a ton of plays there were either people not getting open, or routes were taking way too long to develop. Questionable and laughable play calling all day. It was pretty ridiculous. Also the whole offensive cast seemed to be getting pissed or not putting in effort on plays. Too many mistakes being made and missed blocks. The attention to detail was just not there. Getsy might actually need to walk the plank after this.
Also JT is questioning why they aren’t building the offense around the ability of Justin’s Fields running.
Oline:
I thought they played fine, but this was a terrible performance. Missed blocks in the running game were killing us. We could only run one type of play effectively. I thought we were good at run blocking but I was wrong. This problem has been apparent all season. And we are one of the highest rushing teams in the league!!!
Pass protection was a joke as well. Consistently inconsistent (the theme of Justin too). Lucas Patrick cannot be real. He was blowing blocks all night. Immediate pressure up the middle and ruining plays. Whether it was run or pass plays. We need a center immediately and better coaching or else whoever is QB next year is getting killed.
The rest of the line was having issues all night too. Free rushers being let in all night. Giving up pressure instantly. I kinda understand why there were a ton of screens now. We can’t pass block effectively consistently. Justin was back to running for his life yet again. He looked like he was seeing ghosts toward of the game.
So yeah. The offense is a joke right now. The film out there is showing a ton of problems with this cast. JT doesn’t think they’ll run it back with these coaches. And understandably so.
Here’s the thing: I agree Getsy needs to go.
However,
MN is one of the highest blitzing teams in the league, they’re aggressive, big play hunters. They have a lot of breakdowns, especially when it comes to finishing tackles (hmmm heard that story somewhere)
Getting the ball out quick where in most cases DJ is left 1v1 with corners is a SMART plan. Screens make sense against this specific team.
However we very rarely ever allowed the defense to play honest and fear the deep ball. We saw it last week with DJ against Detroit.
It really allowed the defense to stack, press, and send heat.
Getsy needs to find a way to get the ball out with more slants, shallow crosses, picks, etc. we also need to show defenses that DJ can do more than just catch the ball within the sticks.
Justin is a pure rhythm guy. Short passes get him going, and eventually, he gets the confidence to make big plays and keep defenses honest himself.
His OC needs to trust him to make the plays with his arm. Challenger defenses more early. Hell, it’s not gonna work everytime, but it will keep a defense in check.
It’s good you called out what th me Vikings D usually does and also what they were doing to adjust to the Bears. They basically were showing blitz every play and then dropping 2-4 deep giving away the middle. They were baiting Fields to think himself into turnover chances.
Most teams really struggle to run against the constant blitz packages. We are only 1 of 3 teams, and we did it twice, to run for 100+ yards against them. So those 6 man box packages are confusing for the line. Then we run motion to help JF1 identify the package. This moves receivers to different routes that take longer.
I still think the core issue with offensive production is JF1 decision making and pocket presence. Adjustments are then made to help him, but this takes the game plan into very predictable reads for the D.
Well said. There were so many openings in the zone early, even Aikman was mentioning it. (He changed his tune later when all he did was mention how JF is much better this year). It looked like a confidence/overthinking thing early for fields, which wasn’t helped by the poor blocking, poor running plays, and short/screen calls.
What’s crazy is with all these quick screen passes, and against a high blitz team, Fields time to throw average was still one of the longest on the year at 3.37 seconds (Lions was slightly slower at 3.42). He now owns the longest time to throw average in the entire league at 3.13 seconds.
And people think that this fact has no impact on Getsy’s playcalling. “Call what Justin does well!” And in the same breath asking why he doesn’t call the exact stuff Justin never throws.
I am no Getsy apologist. But the problem is the two of them together. The only viable options are they BOTH go or Justin has to show that he is going to throw what an NFL offense requires to justify getting him a new OC here.
Which is precisely why this team HAS to move on. He is not a good QB in any way outside of his athleticism and arm strength. He has none of the rest
There are a million other ways to beat the blitz and get the ball out quick that aren’t WR screens we just didn’t call it ever and the one time we did we chunked a play to Kmet for 20+ yards down the middle
I agree with a lot of what you said except for screens making sense. You’re much better going slightly vertical quickly with a slant or a short post. Throwing horizontal is ok once or twice (not 20+ times) but usually you’ll want to use a short vertical route against the blitz when dumping the ball to an escape valve. Rodgers did that to us often in his better days and it killed our D.
I mean yea that’s a good game plan if it’s not the main plan.
Don’t give him that credit. He runs this same goddamn plan every game. It was specific to this team. I don’t think Getsy has the football iq to attack a advantage.