Bears quarterback Tyson Bagent has a message for his coaches as he prepares to make his first career NFL start Sunday against the Raiders.
“Whatever they want to put on that call sheet will be understood through and through,” he said.
The undrafted rookie quarterback said something similar after he took Justin Fields’ place Sunday when he dislocated his right thumb. He knew the whole call sheet, he said, and told Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy to not “be afraid to do your thing.”
Getsy smiled Thursday when asked about Bagent’s belief there’s no play he couldn’t run.
“To say that he has full command of everything that we have, that’s probably a little bit optimistic,” he said.
The confidence, though, is telling.
“It’s really cool and rare in the sense of, when you’re out there looking for guys to build your team around and fill your roster with, you want guys like that who are going to come in here and have that approach when they get here,” Getsy said. “He was relentless, he still is. And I think that’s what’s given him a chance.”
It’s giving Getsy a chance, too, to see what he could do with a different quarterback.
Getsy wouldn’t admit to having more energy in a week in which he needs to prep Bagent — “The juice is always there right, it’s always right here, I promise you,” he said — and no coordinator, obviously, wants to lose his starting quarterback. But in a year in which the organization figures to examine all aspects of the coaching staff, Getsy has only so many chances left to show what he can do.
Designing a functioning offense around Bagent, even for a few weeks, would be a point in his favor.
What will a Bagent-led offense look like? The Bears figure to run the ball more, and not just because the Raiders give up the 10th-most rushing yards in the NFL. Doing so sets up fewer decisions for Bagent — and few opportunities for defensive end Maxx Crosby, who is tied for seventh in the NFL in sacks, to rush the passer.
That doesn’t mean that Bagent himself will be the one doing the running. Despite him scoring on a run last week, the Bears likely won’t call a single run play for Bagent — save the occasional “tush push” sneak.
“I don’t necessarily think I’m solely a pocket passer,” Bagent said. “You know, I don’t think I’m a dual-threat guy. I think I fall somewhere in between there, and I just take the play that’s given to me and try to extract whatever yardage I can out of that play.”
When Fields has been at his worst, that hasn’t happened.
On the first play of Sunday’s game against the blitz-happy Vikings, the Bears lined up with an empty backfield. Half the time, Getsy said, the Vikings blitz in that scenario.
Fields got to the line of scrimmage and changed the protection of his five linemen. That left linebacker D.J. Wonnum unblocked blitzing off the edge, which was fine — so long as Fields drifted right and got rid of the ball quickly. Receiver DJ Moore and fullback Khari Blasingame ran quick hitches to the right.
Fields looked right, patted the ball and was sacked.
“He did the hard part,” Getsy said. “He recognized the defense that they had never shown us. He handled it with the right protection adjustment. He just didn’t handle the next part of it right.”
It’s daunting to ask someone to do both things right in their first career start. The Bears claim confidence in Bagent, but Getsy’s goal should be to give him as few decisions at the line of scrimmage as possible.
Bagent went 10-for-14 for 83 yards in relief Sunday, fumbling a ball that was returned for a touchdown and throwing a late-game interception. Getsy said that Bagent took too long in throwing a jump ball to DJ Moore on the pick — three hitches instead of one. On the third hitch, he drifted into the left guard and was unable to throw the ball with enough zip.
“One of those experiences that we got to learn from,” Getsy said.
He’s hustled a first-timer into the starting lineup before. As Packers quarterbacks coach in November 2021, he had four days to prepare Jordan Love for his first career start when Aaron Rodgers, tested positive for COVID-19 on a Wednesday. The game was against the Chiefs and at one of the NFL’s toughest venues, Arrowhead Stadium.
Love threw 34 passes — he completed 19 for 190 yards, a touchdown, an interception and a 69.5 passer rating — in a 13-7 loss.
“Jordan did a really nice job of communicating to us what he was comfortable with,” Getsy said.
Bagent has been the same way. The Bears have explained the game plan to him, and he’s been honest with what he understands and what he needs to work on.
“I think it’s the way you go about your week, and the way that you’re making sure that they can confirm that they’ve got the knowledge,” Getsy said. “And they can go apply it.”
