Ben Johnson doesn’t announce starting QB for Week 4, but rules out Caleb Williams

While signs are pointing toward Tyson Bagent starting at quarterback for the Bears on Friday, head coach Ben Johnson did not confirm that would be the case during his Friday press conference.

The only definitive piece of information Johnson gave on Friday was that Caleb Williams will not play in the Week 4 matchup, declaring the QB out with his hamstring injury.

Williams has not practiced this week.

But for the rest of the QBs this week, Johnson remained tight-lipped. PFT reported earlier on Friday that Bagent has been taking first-team reps this week.

“We’ll find out on Sunday,” Johnson said when asked directly who’s starting.

Later, Johnson noted that he feels comfortable with either Bagent or Case Keenum — who beat the Eagles on Monday night — behind center.

“Honestly, I feel really good about the whole room,” Johnson said. “I don’t know that there’s a bad choice, or a wrong choice. We’re very, very fortunate that we’ve got guys we believe in, and the whole team believes [in]. It’s not just the coaching staff, the whole team believes in everybody in that room. And so, it’s one of those things that, you can’t go wrong. You just want to make sure you’re doing right by all the guys on the team and you’re putting yourself in the best position to win a ballgame. So, I’m looking forward to seeing what it looks like on Sunday.”

While Bagent may be set to resume his role as QB2 after clearing concussion protocol, there is reason to consider Keenum after how well he played on Monday night.

“There is such a thing as playing the hot hand — that is real,” Johnson said. “And we’re certainly taking that into consideration. And yet, there’s a body of work that goes into it as well. So, there’s a lot of factors at play. We certainly have talked about it as a coaching staff. Honestly, it’s split — you just ask each coach one-on-one what they think, it’s split. Once again, I don’t know that there’s necessarily a right answer or a wrong answer in terms of how we go about this thing.

“I know both of them are well prepared to play and win a game for us here.”