Bagent to start for Bears at Packers with Williams out — SkimNews
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- Ben Johnson told ESPN 1000 that Tyson Bagent will start at QB for the Bears at Green Bay on Sunday, calling it "essentially Bagent's second straight start" in place of the injured Caleb Williams (Grade 2 hamstring, three-to-four-week recovery per Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport), which would be Williams' third game missed.
- Tyson Bagent went 25-of-34 for 268 yards and an interception in the Bears' 23-12 win over the Jets, his first regular-season start in 1,059 days.
- The Bears ran 89 plays for a +57 play differential — the fourth largest by any team since the 1970 merger — while generating 34 first downs against a Jets team that ran just 32 total plays; the Bears also dominated time of possession 42:45 to 17:15, only the second Super Bowl-era game where one team had more first downs than the other had plays.
- Case Keenum was credited as the Week 4 starter by the league after Johnson sent him out for the first play to "hand off the torch" — Keenum lined up in the shotgun and pitched to D'Andre Swift for a 2-yard gain while Bagent flanked out wide.
- Caleb Williams suffered the Grade 2 hamstring injury and has now missed three games; the Bears' next two matchups (at Green Bay, then likely vs. a divisional opponent) fall within the three-to-four-week recovery window doctors outlined on Sept. 27.
Why it matters: With Williams likely out through the medical recovery window, Bagent — a UDFA who hadn't started a regular-season game in nearly three years — is now driving the Bears' offense into a divisional road game at Green Bay. The Week 4 win showed the scheme can be run-heavy and possession-dominant under Bagent (89 plays, 42:45 TOP), but sustaining that against a more competitive Packers defense is the immediate test.
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