Bears coach Ben Johnson isn’t normally one to veer into some nonsense, but he’s been getting a chuckle out of hiding his quarterback plan against the Jets on Sunday.
He was back at it as he took the microphone Friday morning before practice, and after a convoluted back-and-forth about whether injured starter Caleb Williams was available (he’s not), Johnson cracked a big smile at the premise of deciding between backup Tyson Bagent and third-stringer Case Keenum.
“And then let me throw Miller Moss into the mix, too,” he said for laughs, referring to the undrafted rookie on his practice squad. “There we go.”
You want to call your buddy Teddy Bridgewater out of retirement, too?
“You never know,” he deadpanned.
Johnson has kept it hazy leading up to a game against Jets coach and former colleague Aaron Glenn and said he intends to maintain that all the way up to kickoff. He’s gone to significant effort to keep it quiet, including cutting down the amount of time reporters are allowed to watch practices.
Johnson’s comments over the past week, though, have hinted more toward Bagent than Keenum. Even in the minutes after Keenum lit up the Eagles in a 27-7 victory Monday, Johnson repeated a line that Bagent beat him out for the No. 2 spot last season and this season “for a reason.”
There’s zero doubt that if Bagent hadn’t been in the concussion protocol last week, he would’ve started against the Eagles. There would’ve been no debate.
Johnson kept playing both sides Friday, acknowledging “there is such a thing as playing the hot hand” in Keenum, as well as weighing “a body of work” when it comes to Bagent. He added that in asking his assistants, they were split.
“I don’t know that there’s a bad choice,” Johnson said. “We’re very, very fortunate that we’ve got guys that we believe in.
“You just want to make sure you’re doing right by all the guys on the team and you’re putting yourself in the best chance to win. I’m looking forward to seeing what it looks like on Sunday.”
The Bears have long wanted to see Bagent in this offense, and Johnson was convinced enough on the practice field to support the team signing him to a two-year, $10 million contract extension last year just seven months into their time together.
Bagent made the roster in 2023 as an undrafted rookie from Division II Shepherd University, but that team was riddled by shaky personnel and shakier coaching. This time, if he’s the choice while Williams recovers from a Grade 2 hamstring strain, he’ll be running one of the smartest offenses in the NFL, playing behind an established offensive line and throwing to a dynamic group of skill players.
The Bears have never seen him in that scenario, which might be why Johnson said he’s so eager to watch Sunday.
Glenn doesn’t seem fazed by his friend’s mind games. In describing the Bears’ quarterbacks Friday, he said Williams presents a unique challenge because of his mobility, while Bagent and Keenum “get the ball out of their hands really quick.”
The Jets haven’t been good in more than a decade, but their defense could cause problems for the Bears. That means Johnson’s choice at quarterback truly must be the player he believes gives him the best chance to win, setting aside any potential feeling that he owes one of them the start.
Keenum should be the pick after what he showed Monday.
Most teams have modest expectations for backup quarterbacks: be reasonably efficient and avoid mistakes while the rest of the team secures a win. But Keenum was hardly a bystander against the Eagles. The Bears rolled because he gave arguably one of the top 10 performances of his career by completing 24 of 34 passes for 247 yards and two touchdowns for a 110.8 passer rating, plus a rushing touchdown.
There’s no entitlement to the No. 2 job the way there is for a starting spot. While Bagent’s body of work in practices and preseason games over the past two seasons has been better than Keenum’s, seeing Keenum play the way he did Monday is weighted more heavily.
But unlike Johnson’s recent predecessors, he has credibility. In two seasons as Bears coach, he has a 13-7 record with a prolific offense and has never looked lost or in over his head like Matt Eberflus and Matt Nagy. If he says he can win with either quarterback, he’s probably right.