Bears QB Tyson Bagent returns to practice, but will he start Monday against Eagles?
Starting quarterback Caleb Williams is out for the Bears’ game Monday against the Eagles.
As for his backup? It’s complicated.
Tyson Bagent practiced Saturday for the first time since entering the NFL’s concussion protocol Tuesday. Practicing is one of the final steps of the protocol, but Bagent still needs to be cleared by team doctors and an independent neurologist to face the Eagles. Sunday is the earliest he can be cleared, though he has until Monday afternoon.
With Williams ruled out after suffering a pulled hamstring last Sunday against the Vikings, the Bears will start 38-year-old Case Keenum or Bagent, if he’s cleared. The latter is questionable on the injury report.
‘‘We’ll let this process play out,’’ coach Ben Johnson said.
A chaotic Saturday began with Johnson misstating Bagent’s status. Asked before practice whether Bagent had been cleared from the concussion protocol, Johnson said he had. About a half-hour later, the Bears clarified he only had been approved to participate in practice. Because practice is a necessary step in the NFL’s return-to-game policy, Bagent couldn’t have been cleared for the game without practicing first.
Bagent, who wasn’t at Halas Hall on Wednesday but attended meetings there Friday, made only a brief appearance in the locker room after practice Saturday, picking up his phone and walking to treatment.
The rest of the Bears’ injury developments were far more definitive — and more positive.
Kicker Cairo Santos returned to practice and will play Monday after sitting out with what the team called an injury to his right hip. Santos said he felt some soreness Monday and merely needed a few days of rest.
Cornerback Tyrique Stevenson, who suffered a pulled hamstring against the Vikings and didn’t practice earlier in the week, will play. So will running back Kyle Monangai, who hurt his knee against the Vikings.
The Bears value Bagent so much that they gave him a two-year, $10 million contract extension last year and rebuffed trade offers in the spring. They consider him to be one of the best second-string quarterbacks in the league. Complicating Johnson’s decision, however, is the fact that Keenum practiced with the starters during most of the game-plan installation. The Bears play their next game only six days later and might not have Williams available for it, either.
The decision — and the cat-and-mouse public messaging in the days leading up to the game — is a new one for Johnson, who never has started a backup quarterback as a play-caller or head coach. Every starting quarterback he has had as a coordinator or head coach, in fact, has been a former No. 1 overall pick.
Johnson wasn’t ready to show his hand and choose between Keenum and, if he’s healthy, Bagent.
‘‘There’s a different skill set, obviously,’’ Johnson said. ‘‘One guy’s a little bit more mobile than the other, yet both are very cerebral players. I know they’ll be mentally prepared, and we’ll see what it looks like.
‘‘But there’s a reason why Tyson was the backup as we ended camp, and we felt good about who he is as a player and what he can bring to the table with this offense. So we’d be excited to get him out there, as well. So I think we’ve got a lot of good choices. We’ll come together as a staff and make sure we’re all on the same page and go from there.’’
The fact Johnson might end up having a choice is progress from where the Bears were earlier in the week, when Keenum was the only healthy quarterback on their 53-man roster. Practice-squadder Miller Moss figures to be promoted to the active roster Monday, as the second- or third-stringer.
Johnson stressed he would be comfortable playing Keenum, who hasn’t thrown a regular-season pass in three years.
Keenum vowed to be ready — and nervous.
‘‘If I didn’t love it, if I didn’t have those feelings, if I wasn’t nervous, I’m going to do something else,’’ he said. ‘‘Like, I dunno, jump out of airplanes. Or bungee-jump.’’
More than anything else, the Bears signed Keenum to be a mentor. After spending the 2024 regular season on injured reserve with the Texans because of a foot injury, Keenum was ready to retire. The Bears, however, wanted a veteran presence for Williams.
Williams didn’t have a mentor as a rookie. The Bears thought assistant coaches could do the job, but they underestimated all the time players are allowed to spend with each other and not with the coaching staff because of the collective-bargaining agreement.
Keenum agreed to meet with Johnson, whom he didn’t know, for 15 minutes in March 2025. They wound up talking for hours about football but also about how Keenum could craft a family life away from his native Texas, where he once set the NCAA career passing record while at Houston.
Keenum was intrigued by Williams, too, and thought he could be a valuable adviser for him the way he was for the Texans’ C.J. Stroud. When Keenum signed with the Bears, they became his eighth NFL team in 15 seasons, a span that includes 66 starts.
Time will tell whether No. 67 comes Monday.
‘‘I think everything that we hoped [Keenum] would be in this role, he has been,’’ Johnson said. ‘‘And if he plays Monday night, we’re expecting big things from him.’’