Case Keenum and Tyson Bagent are in the running to start for the Chicago Bears on Sunday, but Caleb Williams was ruled out for the second week in a row with a hamstring injury.
Head coach Ben Johnson is keeping the call for Week 4 against the Jets to himself, or at least not sharing it publicly two days before kickoff.
“We’ll find out on Sunday,” Johnson said Friday. “I know both of them are well prepared to play and win a game for us.”
Keenum won Monday’s game over the Eagles as the starter, jumping from third on the depth chart to pilot Chicago to a 27-7 victory. Bagent missed most of last week while in concussion protocol, but has been identified by Johnson as “one of the best 32” quarterbacks in the NFL.
Bagent said he’s not pushing to leapfrog Keenum following his strong showing on “Monday Night Football.”
“There’s a couple ways to think about it. Obviously, I would like everything that the football world can offer me. But then there’s also the part that I am from Shepherd University, so I have absolutely zero ego in this and nobody is a bigger cheerleader and a fan of Case Keenum than I am,” Bagent said. “I think he is the epitome of what I believe a quarterback is and is supposed to be. So it was fun to watch him play.”
Johnson increased Bagent’s reps in practice after he was largely limited in advance of Monday’s game.
Johnson said the team is aware of the decision and “a direction has been made” with the game plan.
Jets head coach Aaron Glenn, who was defensive coordinator in Detroit when Johnson ran the offense, said the Jets are “prepared for all of that, and we’ll be prepared to play football” when asked which quarterback he expects to see in the huddle with the starters on Sunday.
