Case Keenum’s brilliance in Week 3 doesn’t make the Bears’ QB decision a lock for Week 4 based on Ben Johnson’s postgame comments
Veteran quarterback Case Keenum fueled the Chicago Bears to a big win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night and it still might not guarantee him another start in Week 4.
The Chicago Bears had a tough week with all of the uncertainty at quarterback after losing starting quarterback Caleb Williams to a hamstring injury and then having to put backup quarterback Tyson Bagent in the concussion protocol.
The thing that made this week not only manageable, but then turn into a big win on Monday Night Football, was the veteran presence of quarterback Case Keenum. Keenum went from QB3 to QB1 in a hurry this week, but he never blinked and the team rallied around that.
“You can tell that he was ready and couldn’t wait to get out there. But, at the same time, under control,” head coach Ben Johnson said of Keenum. “The rest of the unit feeds off of that. I think his demeanor really radiated with everybody.”
With that kind of poise in this kind of situation, and the level of play Keenum operated at leading this offense, one would think he would remain the starter while Williams is sidelined, right? Perhaps not.
Ben Johnson doesn’t rule out turning to Tyson Bagent in Week 4 despite Case Keenum’s performance
The reason Bagent did not play on Monday night was fully due to the concussion he suffered last week against the Minnesota Vikings. Bagent managed to clear protocol by Sunday and was the backup, but he missed too much time during the week to plead his case to start over Keenum. And after this kind of showing from the veteran, it seemed like Bagent missed his window entirely to prove he can be a starting-caliber quarterback. However, it seems like Johnson plans to have an open mind going into Week 4.
“We’ll have a discussion as a coaching staff and see where we need to go from here. But, I said it last week and I’ll say it again, there was a reason why Tyson (Bagent) ended training camp as our #2 quarterback,” Johnson explained.
To me, that’s a little surprising but overall it shows the level of confidence Johnson has in all three quarterbacks on this roster. Still though, Keenum was remarkable in this game against a very good defensive coordinator. Bagent is still an unknown, but has upside, while Keenum is a proven veteran who just showed you he’s capable of winning games.
Case Keenum deserves the opportunity to start in Week 4
While I do get Johnson’s reasoning for wanting to see Bagent, you can’t take Keenum off the field next week saying Williams is out again. Not only did he play at a high level, but he earned that opportunity this week and the way the team rallied around him is something you shouldn’t try to mess with.
“We just saw from the base day, to third-down day, to redzone day, just the totality of it all. We just felt really good about what that looked like,” Johnson said. “It wasn’t fair to Tyson not getting those same quality reps… We thought, when you look back it, the course of the week was really important to getting them chemistry going.”
That final point there is the reason Keenum should start again on Sunday against the New York Jets. He has a full week and full game now in which he’s built chemistry with these pass catchers and it was a very positive result.
Keenum showed confidence in the offense, spread the ball out to all of his weapons, and carried the offense when the run game wasn’t working. The idea of Bagent could be fun, and maybe even better. But the reality is that the Bears would be better off with Keenum starting next week over Bagent.
