Chicago’s quarterback room went from bad to absurd in 48 hours.
Tyson Bagent has entered concussion protocol and his Week 3 status is up in the air, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. Bagent was in line to start for Caleb Williams, who strained a hamstring late in the fourth quarter of Chicago’s 9-3 loss to Minnesota and was carted off.
If both are unavailable Monday night, the Bears hand the ball to Case Keenum against the 2-0 Eagles.
Keenum is 38 and has not thrown a pass since 2023
That is not an exaggeration. Keenum’s last regular-season start came on Dec. 24, 2023, with the Texans. He has not attempted a regular-season pass since. A Week 3 start would be the 67th of his career.
His resume is better than people remember. Keenum has 80 career games, 71 touchdowns, 53 interceptions and an 84.6 passer rating, with a 30-36 record as a starter. He went 11-3 for the 2017 Vikings, which remains one of the great out-of-nowhere seasons of the last decade.
He was also undrafted out of Houston in 2012. Fourteen years later he is one concussion diagnosis away from starting a prime-time game.
Chicago wanted him as a coach
This is the detail that makes the situation feel unreal. The Bears tried to hire Keenum onto the coaching staff in the winter of 2026. He re-signed as a player instead, on a two-year, $5.5 million deal with $2.9 million guaranteed.
Chicago essentially kept him around as a quarterback-whisperer who could throw in an emergency. This is the emergency.
Bagent is the more likely answer
Concussion protocol is not a season-ender, and Bagent has time to clear it before Monday. He went 5-of-9 for 54 yards after Williams left the Minnesota game, and a start this week would be his fifth career start and his first since 2023.
Williams has not been ruled out either. Chicago does not expect a long-term absence, though he is likely to miss at least this one.
The matchup is brutal either way
Philadelphia has allowed the sixth-fewest passing yards in the league. The one soft spot is pressure: the Eagles have just three sacks and zero interceptions through two games, which means a quarterback who gets the ball out fast can survive.
That actually favors Keenum more than it favors Bagent. Keenum has spent an entire career as a rhythm passer who does not hold the football.
None of that makes this a good situation. The Bears were supposed to be building around a young franchise quarterback, and instead they are two weeks into the season toggling between a backup in concussion protocol and a man they tried to make a coach. Whoever starts Monday deserves combat pay.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.