Case Keenum and Tyson Bagent have each other’s back as they compete for Chicago Bears’ Week 4 QB job

The Chicago Bears still were playing coy Thursday about their likely starting quarterback for the Week 4 game against the New York Jets: Case Keenum or Tyson Bagent.

“You take every single situation as is in the moment,” offensive coordinator Press Taylor said. “So we’re always going to readjust or recalibrate every single week and see what applies this week, what gives us the best opportunity moving forward.

“The variables are never-ending, honestly, of what goes into it and the conversations. … Every decision here is made to do the best thing for the Bears. It’s not anything beyond that. It’s what’s going to be the best for the Bears right now, and we’re going to roll with it.”

With starter Caleb Williams expected to miss at least another week with a strained hamstring, the Bears likely will have to pick between backups Bagent, 26, and Keenum, 38, who guided the Bears to a 27-7 win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday.

Neither quarterback gave a sense of their workload at practice or which way coaches are leaning for Sunday’s game at Soldier Field.

“That’s not my decision,” Keenum said. “My decision is how I approach today, how I approach tomorrow and the next day after that and then being ready to go.”

Bagent said he looks at the situation in two ways.

“Obviously I would like everything that the football world can offer me,” he said, referring to an opportunity to play. “But there’s also the fact that I am from (Division II) Shepherd University, so I have absolutely zero ego in this.

“And nobody is a bigger cheerleader and fan of Case Keenum than I am. He’s the epitome of what I believe a quarterback is supposed to be. So it was fun to watch him play.”

Bagent has been the Bears’ No. 2 quarterback since 2023, when, as an undrafted rookie, he beat out PJ Walker and Nathan Peterman in training camp to back up Justin Fields.

And, as Johnson has emphasized, Bagent retained the No. 2 job coming out of camp this year.

However, 15th-year journeyman Keenum put on a show against the Eagles on “Monday Night Football,” completing 24 of 34 passes (70.6%) for 247 yards and two touchdowns and adding a rushing touchdown.

Bagent had missed most of last week’s practices while in the concussion protocol and wasn’t cleared until the day before the game.

He said he considered not bringing up his symptoms to the team — knowing he risked being placed into the league’s protocol, which might cost him a rare opportunity to start — but the signs became too apparent the day after the Week 2 game against the Minnesota Vikings, in which Bagent relieved the injured Williams late in the game.

“It was getting hard to ignore,” he said.

Bagent said he had a long conversation with his agent.

“I’ve never had a concussion before, so I was really unsure of the symptoms,” he said. “But after having conversations with him, obviously your brain is far more important than being able to play in a game, no matter how high-stakes the game is.

“So we made the right decision, and because of that I was able to clear myself a lot sooner than I would have been able to if I didn’t say anything.”

Bagent was available as a backup Monday but didn’t play. Now that he’s in the mix to start against the Jets, do the Bears go with the next man up on the depth chart in Bagent or the hot hand in Keenum?

Jets defensive coordinator Brian Duker indicated they’ll be prepared to see either one.

“Based on what they showed last game, (Bears coach Ben Johnson) is still confident in those quarterbacks,” Duker said Thursday. “So you’re looking at the totality of how they run their system and you’re preparing for the system at that point.”

Bagent is 2-2 as a starter in his career, but all of those came as a rookie in 2023 while filling in for Fields. He completed 84 of 129 passes (65%) for 776 yards with three touchdowns and five interceptions in those four starts.

After Williams strained his hamstring against the Vikings, Bagent went 5 of 9 for 54 yards (55.6%).

Keenum has started 67 of the 81 career games he has played with a 31-36 record. The last time he was the regular starter coming out of training camp was 2019 with Washington.

For much of his career he has waited in the wings, not knowing when his next chance to play would come. But he has learned the art of staying ready, just in case.

“I’m built for this,” Keenum said. “I have so many banked reps of situations and outside noise that I just tune it all out and I believe the truth — what my coaches tell me and what my teammates tell me and what I see on film and what I know I can do.

“You just go out there and do the best you can, and then you learn from when you don’t succeed. It’s not failure; it’s an opportunity to learn.”

Though they’re competing for the same spot, Bagent called Keenum “a huge resource” who helps him with film, defensive looks and other aspects of playing quarterback.

If the decision breaks for Keenum, Taylor doesn’t believe Bagent would be fazed by it.

“We’ve never felt like you have to worry about his mindset,” Taylor said.

Bagent added: “The situation I’m in is unbelievable to me, so nothing changes whether I’m in or not, mindset-wise. And I’m always going to go in and try to execute each individual play to the best of my ability.”