With the Bears’ offense ranked 27th in the NFL in points, 29th in yards and quarterback Justin Fields 30th in passer rating, offensive coordinator Luke Getsy exuded confidence and preached patience. 

“I think we’re in the process of building something special,” Getsy said in his weekly media session at Halas Hall. “We’re in the phase of it’s Week 3 going into Week 4 and we’re going on to find a way to attack Denver in a completely different way than we did Kansas City. … It’s a 17-week process. It is not a three-week process.” 

Even in a developmental phase of a rebuilding year, Fields’ performance has been disconcerting to many outside of Halas Hall. His passer rating has declined in each game this season — from 78.2 against the Packers to 61.1 against the Buccaneers to 58.7 in a 41-10 loss to the Chiefs on Sunday. He has completed 55.2% and 50% of his passes in the latter two games, throwing for just 99 yards against the Chiefs. 

But that’s all part of a long process, Getsy said. He is encouraged by development Fields has shown as a leader, even in the absence of tangible, quantifiable production. His passer rating through three games is 67.7. It was 85.2 last season.

“Our expectations have always been the same — it’s about him getting better every week and making sure that he’s mastering what we’re doing from our perspective, and being the leader of that unit.

“And I think he’s doing a really nice job in the midst of a lot of [crap] right now … that he’s manning up and taking a leadership role for these guys. It’s been good to see him be able to put it on his shoulders and be the guy that wants to help make sure this thing gets right.” 

So what has Fields improved on? 

“You play teams that we just played against that challenge you with all kind of different scheme and alignments and pressures and stuff like that,” Getsy said. “You talk about a guy who during the week in the preparation getting everybody on board or on the same page and I think that showed up again this past week, where that wasn’t the issue at all.”

“We were doing a really good job. He made sure that everybody was on the same page protection wise when you have a new [offensive] line like we had last week again. For them to be able to be on the same page and have their calls, and everything like that, that was a really good example of him being in control of all that stuff.”

But even with everybody on the same page, the Bears had 85 yards on 22 plays (3.9 yards per play) in falling behind 34-0 in the first half against the Chiefs. But they were so close. And the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs are good.

“The thing that jumped out was a few of the details — we felt we had a few opportunities to create,” Getsy said. “There [are] probably seven or eight plays that we felt should have been explosive plays. It was just the lack of particular detail to a number of different situations that were different parts of it. And when you’re playing a really good team like that, you can’t let those opportunities slide by and we did.”