Bears facing quarterback crisis ahead of Week 3 matchup with Eagles as Tyson Bagent enters concussion protocol
Chicago Bears quarterbacks Caleb Williams (hamstring) and Tyson Bagent (concussion) are each dealing with injuries going into Week 3.
The Chicago Bears are dealing with a quarterback crisis heading into Week 3’s Monday night game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Starter Caleb Williams is week-to-week with a hamstring strain suffered Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings, and now backup quarterback Tyson Bagent has entered the NFL’s concussion protocol, per Ian Rapoport.
Veteran Case Keenum is in line to start Monday if neither Williams nor Bagent can go, a situation that puts the Bears’ depth at the position to the test.
Chicago Bears quarterback room is taking a hit at the worst time
Bears head coach Ben Johnson confirmed that Williams will not practice this week leading up to the Eagles game, though the team has not ruled him out entirely. Williams will work with the medical staff both in and outside the building in an effort to get ready for Monday. Still, rushing back from a hamstring strain carries significant risk of re-injury or further damage, making this a delicate situation for the entire organization.
Bagent played two drives is relief of Williams on Sunday and now is dealing with a concussion sustained during his limited action game. Given the league’s concussion process, it’s far from a guarantee that Bagent will be cleared in time for Monday’s game.
It’s worth noting that Vikings quarterback Kyler Murray suffered a concussion in Week 1 and missed the Week 2 game against the Bears before getting cleared this week.
Case Keenum now steps into the spotlight
This is where the advantage of having one of the deepest quarterback rooms in the NFL comes into play. Case Keenum is a capable veteran who has started games throughout his career and showed he still has it during the preseason. However, his last regular season start came in 2023 with the Houston Texans starting in place of an injured CJ Stroud.
Keenum played more than expected in the exhibition slate after Bagent missed preseason time with a hamstring injury of his own and the Bears signed Keenum a two-year extension with the team earlier this year for a reason. Keenum will take all first-team reps at practice this week while Bagent works through the concussion protocol and Williams remains sidelined.
“He’s been an integral part of what we’ve done,” Ben Johnson said of Keenum in January. “He’s been tremendous is terms of Caleb’s growth. That was really the thought process of bringing him in, is, a guy with skins on the wall. He’s played in big games himself at a high level. He’s won big games, he’s lost big games, his experience has been something that all these young players can really lean into… I know that if he ever needed to play, he could still play at a high level, too. We see that every day at practice as well.”
Beyond Keenum, the Bears also have practice squad quarterback Miller Moss, the undrafted rookie who was with the team all throughout training camp, in the building as an emergency option if the situation deteriorates further.
“I think the mastery of the offense, in that room, is at another level,” Ben Johnson told reporters on Monday. “I think we got a really dynamic quarterback room just in terms of guys that are challenging each other. They got great ideas. Very smart and cerebral. They push each other. I think we got three guys that can win football games.”
Time to lean into the run game again against Philadelphia
No matter who lines up at quarterback Monday night, the Bears’ game plan could skew heavily toward the ground game. The last time Chicago played the Eagles, the Bears dominated with roughly 281 yards on the ground behind the running back duo of D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai.
A run-first operation would take pressure off whichever quarterback is behind center and play to a proven strength of this offense.
The toughest part of this situation is the pressure it places on Williams to potentially suit up Monday sooner than ideal for his recovery. It’s a bad spot for Williams and the Bears.
Hamstring injuries are notoriously tricky, and the risk of aggravation only grows when a player returns before he is fully ready. Sitting Williams is the safest solution from a long-term health perspective, but the Bears may not have that luxury if Bagent remains in the protocol. Chicago will have to weigh the short-term need of winning a Monday night game against the long-term cost of potentially losing its franchise quarterback to a more severe setback. Having a veteran like Keenum, though, eases some of the pressure.
This is a situation to monitor closely over the next few days as the Bears sort through a quarterback room that went from one of the deepest in the league to one hanging by a thread in a matter of hours.
