Bears’ Luke Getsy defends Nathaniel Hackett after Sean Payton’s shots

Dennis Waszak Jr./AP

Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy defended his friend Nathaniel Hackett on Wednesday, one week after new Broncos head coach Sean Payton ripped his predecessor.

Payton said Hackett’s effort last season “might have been one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL — it was that bad.” He then predicted that the Jets — where Hackett is now the offensive coordinator — were set up for a disappointing 2023.

He later apologized.

Hackett was the Packers’ offensive coordinator from 2019-21. Getsy was the team’s quarterbacks coach in 2019 and their pass-game coordinator/quarterbacks coach the next two seasons.

Hackett — who was fired before he could finish his first season as the Broncos’ head coach last year — said Tuesday that he felt Payton broke a coaching code. They’re not supposed to criticize each other publicly.

“I love ‘Hack,’ everybody knows that — a special person in my life,” Getsy said Wednesday after the Bears’ training camp practice. “He showed me the way. And I’m very grateful for him. I was very happy to see him handle it a great way. I’m proud of his character and the way we handled that yesterday.”

Asked about the code, Getsy said he tries to say the right thing whether the cameras are on or not.

“I try to be a man of good character,” he said. “So I try to live my life that way, not just in that particular instance.”

Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers — who played for Hackett in Green Bay and is doing the same this season — said that Payton needed to “keep my coaches’ names out of his mouth. He said that Hackett was arguably his favorite coach he’s had in his entire career. Rodgers and Getsy remain close, too.

The Broncos’ previous ownership group interviewed and hired Hackett 18 months ago. They also interviewed Getsy; in fact, Getsy’s first interview with the team came one day before Hackett’s did. Getsy landed as the Bears’ play-caller two-and-a-half weeks later.

The Broncos gave Hackett only 15 games at head coach, firing him one day after a 51-14 loss to the lowly Rams on Christmas Day. The Broncos went 4-11 under his tenure.

Payton laid quarterback Russell Wilson’s worst-ever season at the feet of the previous staff.

“There’s so much dirt around that,” Payton told USA Today. “There’s 20 dirty hands, for what was allowed, tolerated in the fricking training rooms, the meeting rooms. The offense.

“I don’t know Hackett. A lot of people had dirt on their hands.”