This was a nightmare for the Bears, losing starting quarterback Caleb Williams to a hamstring injury, but aside from seeing a teammate go down, it’s the moment Tyson Bagent has wanted.
He wasn’t able to rescue them from a plodding 9-3 loss to the Vikings and cushion the gut punch of losing Williams, but he has the best opportunity of his career ahead of him if Williams misses significant time.
“I feel great,” Bagent said after mentioning multiple times how upsetting it was to see Williams get hurt. “I have a good team around me, good coaching staff, so I’m ready to roll.
“I’m grateful for any rep that I ever get. I’m ready to work hard and show up on Monday ready to go.”
He meant Monday as in the next day, but Bagent will be working toward starting the Bears’ next game, a “Monday Night Football” matchup with the powerhouse Eagles on Sept. 28.
Good thing the Bears didn’t trade him for the mere prize of a mid-round draft pick last offseason.
Johnson said little about Williams’ injury. He mentioned that the team will know more Monday — presumably from an MRI to determine the severity — and that it was “a shame” to lose him. He was relieved that it wasn’t a knee injury, but that was the most upside he could muster.
A severe tear, categorized as Grade 3, could jeopardize the rest of his season. Even a relatively minor strain could cost him multiple games.
While the injury is a major obstacle to coach Ben Johnson and the Bears, it’s the ultimate chance for Bagent to prove he’s a legitimate NFL starter. The last time this door opened for him was early in 2023 as an undrafted rookie out of Division II Shepherd when the Bears’ season was already off the rails and the offense was spiraling.
As he steps into the starting role now, Bagent is fully equipped to take charge of a team that intends to contend for a championship. If he’s as good as he and the Bears think, he’ll show it.
He’s a fourth-year veteran and, like Williams, it’s his second season working with Johnson, who signed off on giving him a contract extension last season.
Bagent entered their game Sunday against the Vikings in a pressure-packed scenario midway through the fourth quarter with the Bears in the red zone and threatening to take the lead, but they settled for a 23-yard field goal that got blocked by cornerback Isaiah Rodgers.
He got one last shot at the type of heroic escape that made Williams a star and, with no timeouts, drove the Bears from their own 35-yard line to the Vikings’ 12. He got three plays with a chance to throw to the end zone:
– A throw near the goal line to Luther Burden that Rodgers believed he intercepted, though was ruled incomplete on replay review.
– A pass to tight end Colston Loveland in the center of the end zone that fell short with safety Joshua Metellus in tight coverage.
– An 11-yard loss on a sack as time ran out and Loveland couldn’t hold off Dallas Turner.
You couldn’t help but daydream about Williams finding a way to pull it off, as he did so often last season.
“Being able to have a chance at the end zone was all you can ask for,” Bagent said. “On my end, got to be better executing when we get down there.
“It got kind of hairy for me, but unacceptable on my end. Can’t take a sack on the last play of the game — got to at least give somebody a chance.”
On short notice, and in a game in which the offense was doing next to nothing anyway, Bagent finished 5-of-9 passing for 54 yards. With Williams rarely missing so much as a snap so far, it was the most Bagent played since filling in for Justin Fields for four starts in 2023.
“It’s a tough spot for an offensive lineman to come in late in the game, so I can only imagine for a quarterback,” right guard Jonah Jackson said. “But he was trotting the field. We had the game in our hands for a second. We just couldn’t capitalize.”
If the Bears proceed with Bagent as the starter when they resume practice Wednesday, it’ll do him a world of good to get the week to regroup and work with the first team leading.
Wide receiver Rome Odunze said got enough practice reps with Bagent over the last six months that it’s “not something I’m worried about,” but Williams got the overwhelming majority of those, of course.
Chemistry doesn’t come easily, and there’s a lot that needs to improve after the Bears followed their 59-point bonanza in the opener with three in a soggy loss Sunday. They desperately need to rebound from that, and they’re hoping Bagent can do it.