LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Backup Chicago Bears quarterback Tyson Bagent returned to Halas Hall without practicing on Friday, and starter Caleb Williams also remains out.
“It was a fade ball, so we got a little connection. “He’s a great quarterback though, he is, and the way he commands and his knowledge of the game, it’s very cool to be a part of something like that. “Obviously that’s kind of a question of who that’s going be right now, but that doesn’t change our work ethic out there on the practice field or our confidence in anybody in this locker room. “You’re not going to get these big, long explosives the way they play in the shell, the way everything starts playing out of the shell. And then they just do a great job of playing a variety of different fronts and techniques ultimately to try to do the same idea at the end of the day — limit the explosives and make you go the long, hard way.”
Keenum is also a quarterback who hasn’t played in an NFL game since 2023, when he was third-string for Houston, and has started only four times in the 2020s. Because the Bears mixed their receiver groups with each QB during the offseason and during parts of training camp, receivers are all well acquainted with Keenum.
“Case threw me my first touchdown in camp here actually,” tight end Colston Loveland said. “Kind of having that next-man-up mentality and just trying to go to work with the people that we’re going to have available in the game,” wide receiver Rome Odunze said. “You’re going to have to be patient,” Taylor said.
“But I do think you can sit there and you can watch a veteran quarterback or Tyson if Tyson gets the opportunity, how they handle the huddle, how they handle the sidelines, what you can provide as an extra set of eyes on the sidelines potentially if that’s where he is. And we’ll see how that goes.”
“I think it’s a very new situation for him, obviously,” Taylor said.
The Bears had four completions 22 yards or longer in their opener, a 59-37 win over a Carolina team using a variation of Fangio’s defense. It’s a bit different approach than the one Williams normally takes.
Taylor said Williams can benefit from watching if he misses a game for the first time.
