Chicago Bears quarterback Tyson Bagent will start against the New Orleans Saints this week, Bears head coach Matt Eberflus confirmed to Chicago’s ESPN 1000 on Monday.
Matt Eberflus tells @WaddleandSilvy and @TWaddle87 that Tyson Bagent will start for the Bears against the Saints while Justin Fields remains "week-to-week"
— ESPN 1000 (@ESPN1000) October 30, 2023
Bagent will be starting his third straight game in place of Justin Fields, who remains “week-to-week” with a thumb injury.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Fields may return to practice this week, but it’s unclear if or when that will happen.
#Bears coach Matt Eberflus tells reporters that QB Justin Fields remains week-to-week and that Tyson Bagent remains the QB for the game against the #Saints. Sounds like Fields may be able to practice at some point this week, which would be progress. But TBD.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 30, 2023
After leading the Bears to a 30-12 victory against the Las Vegas Raiders in his first career start, Bagent couldn’t quite get the job done in Chicago’s 30-13 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday Night Football, going 25-for-37 but throwing two interceptions and fighting a constantly uphill battle after the Bears allowed 24 first half points.
The loss to the Chargers dropped Eberflus to 5-20 in the first 25 games of his career as a head coach, the worst record of any coach in the Bears 100+ year franchise history through his first 25 games.
Bagent, an undrafted rookie free agent from West Virginia’s Shepherd University is just the latest in a long line of alleged saviors in the Bears fanbase. Previous backup quarterbacks such as Caleb Hanie or Josh McCown received the same love from Chicago fans who grew fed up with the starting quarterback’s play only to find out the backup is also bad.
Perhaps Bagent can be the Bears quarterback to finally buck the trend.
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