Tyson Bagent will give an encore.
Coming off an impressively solid first start, the Bears will play their undrafted rookie again when they visit the Chargers on Sunday, and injured starter Justin Fields will miss his second game in a row as he recovers from a dislocated thumb on his throwing hand.
“Really, no change,” coach Matt Eberflus said of Fields on Monday. “He’s doubtful for this week, working with trainers, continues to progress. He’s just not there yet.
“Bagent will be our starter until he is cleared... Excited for Tyson’s opportunity again this week to start in a game.”
Eberflus reiterated that the Bears don’t expect Fields to need surgery and don’t plan to put him on injured reserve, suggesting they’re optimistic that he will return next week at the Saints or for the Nov. 9 home game against the Panthers.
In the meantime, Bagent can prove himself.
He was merely a curiosity when the Bears signed him out of Division II Shepherd University and he looked good in the preseason. Now he’s a novelty after delivering a sharp, efficient performance to help the Bears beat the Raiders 30-12.
Bagent completed 21 of 29 passes for 162 yards with a touchdown pass and no turnovers for a 97.2 passer rating. It was an extremely conservative game plan in which he never threw deeper than 15 yards and the rushing attack powered the offense, but Bagent kept the offense moving and looked competent.
It’ll take more than that to keep up with the Chargers and prolific quarterback Justin Herbert.
That’s a striking matchup. While Bagent clawed his way to the NFL from obscurity, Herbert was the No. 6 overall pick out of Oregon in 2020 and has piled up stats ever since. Patrick Mahomes is the only player to throw for more yards than Herbert since he reached the league, and Herbert has thrown more touchdown passes (104) in the last four seasons than the Bears have in the last five (93).
It’s tough to outrace that guy with a dink-and-dunk approach. It’s also much more difficult to keep Herbert under 30 points than it was when the Bears faced Raiders journeyman Brian Hoyer.
So Bagent must raise his game, and Eberflus insisted he can. He said there’s “no question” Bagent is capable of operating a more dynamic game plan than what offensive coordinator Luke Getsy designed for his starting debut.
And there’s no doubting Bagent’s confidence. He didn’t flinch when asked about the pressure he’ll be under going forward.
“No matter how big it is, I’m a pretty grounded person,” he said. “I like to keep it simple. It’s really easy to turn the phone off.”
But some of what worked against the Raiders should stick. While there were plenty of qualifiers on the offense’s performance, it looked coherent and viable. The Bears should feature more of the quick passing game even when Fields comes back.
Until Fields resumes his pursuit of becoming the Bears’ franchise quarterback — a narrow path that gets tighter with each missed game — Bagent is simply trying to show he’s legitimate.
He’s on a three-year contract, so any progress toward establishing himself is valuable to him and the team. If he’s a dependable backup, that’s a success. If he’s good enough that the Bears one day have a surplus at the position, a scenario that feels preposterous to even imagine, that’s a big win.
And in the short term, he can keep the season afloat.
It’ll be nearly impossible for the Bears to make a playoff run, but they’re in no position to allow the team to slide into oblivion for the second season in a row. Jobs are at risk if that happens again. Eberflus and general manager Ryan Poles made Bagent their backup because they thought he could deliver in a situation just like this, and there’s a lot riding on that decision.
