Bears Film Study: Lesson fron latest loss is forget about drafting another QB
The Bears looked more like their usual selves during last week's lopsided loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
It would be easy to say rookie quarterback Tyson Bagent returned to Earth in his second NFL start. But he played fairly well except for the 2 interceptions, and one of those hit Darnell Mooney in the chest before a hard hit knocked the ball loose.
Bagent again showed impressive accuracy, with three perfect third-down throws to extend drives. His yards per attempt needs to rise, but he did go from 5.6 yards against Minnesota to 6.3 last week.
Maybe the best way to look at Bagent's two starts is to ask how you'd feel if he was a first- or second-round draft pick. You'd be encouraged, right?
He's shown good poise and decision-making. He hit Mooney for 41 yards on the first play of the game, then Velus Jones dropped a would-be 40-yard touchdown, so he's capable of throwing deep. Bagent's been checking down to running backs a lot, but that's OK. Drew Brees made a career out of it.
While Justin Fields remains the Bears' primary project, an argument could be made for Bagent as QB of the Future 1A. He might have the potential to be a good starting QB down the road and is a decent backup option at the moment.
This could benefit the Bears if Bagent's solid play gets them off the "We can't possibly pass on Caleb Williams if we have the No. 1 pick again" bandwagon.
There are too many holes on this team right now. Deciding Fields isn't the guy, then drafting Williams or someone else to replace him will yield similar poor results if the new QB is working with the same flawed supporting cast.
There was a report of the Bears sending a contingent to Ann Arbor this week to watch Chicago native J.J. McCarthy in person. But here's hoping the Bears use those two high 2025 draft picks to add a couple of non-QB playmakers, at least one on defense.
Chargers in charge:
The Bears were facing the NFL's worst pass defense last week, but one reason for that is the Chargers have been lit up by the Dolphins and Chiefs this season. They've been better against less accomplished offenses.
This game was lost in the trenches, though. The Chargers were physical on both sides of the ball and the Bears had no answer. Adding former Commanders edge Montez Sweat is worth a try to get any sort of pass rush going.
It's also hard to imagine the Bears' defense without Jaylon Johnson. In the past two weeks, rookie CB Tyrique Stevenson has been targeted a whopping 31 times. Against the Chargers, he gave up 12 receptions on 13 targets, according to pro-football-reference.com. The Bears might want to explore moving Kyler Gordon to safety.
We've talked about the odd offseason plan of using three middle linebackers and the group's limited speed was on display in this game, as the Chargers got three big plays from isolating Austin Ekeler against T.J. Edwards.
The opening drive summed up this mismatch. After the long pass to Mooney, the Bears got mixed up on blocking assignments and D'Onta Foreman was dropped for a 1-yard gain. A jet sweep to Trent Taylor was blown up, then Bagent was sacked quickly when Joey Bosa tossed Cody Whitehair aside.
The Bears' second drive had the nice 18-yard run by Foreman on a direct snap, fake reverse, but center Lucas Patrick was penalized for putting his forearm into the chin of DT Nick Williams. It was all downhill from there.
Best play
As usual, it was a play where the Bears loaded up on blockers and got their linemen moving. Darrynton's 11-yard touchdown in the second quarter featured great blocks by TE Cole Kmet, who took out two defenders; and Mooney, who pushed a DB all the way to the goal line.
Worst play
When the Bears failed on fourth-and-one in the third quarter, they tried to put a double-team block on Chargers DT Sebastian Joseph-Day, but he did a quick juke at the snap, causing Darnell Wright and Teven Jenkins to knock each other off the play and fall to the ground. Kmet did what he could, but it was one-on-three at that point and Roschon Johnson got buried for no gain.
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