There are at least two ways to look at the Tyson Bagent phenomenon:
1. Possible Cinderella story ahead!
2. How messed up are the Bears that we’ve been having a conversation about whether an undrafted rookie from a small school would be a better choice to start at quarterback than their 2021 first-round pick — the one with 31 NFL starts to his name?
Which way you look at it depends on a number of factors, the most obvious being what Bagent has done for you lately. In a 30-13 loss to the Chargers on Sunday night, he didn’t do a whole lot. He opened the game with a 41-yard completion. He had a one-yard touchdown run toward the end of it. In between, he threw two interceptions and could have thrown at least one other. At times, he looked like someone who knew what he was doing. He threw precise passes into very small windows, and he got rid of the ball quickly. That he didn’t look like a superstar-in-waiting should have come as no surprise. He’s got a lot of ground to make up coming from Division II Shepherd University.
The week before, in his first start for the injured Justin Fields, he looked sharp running an offensive attack that was designed to cut down on the possibility of rookie mistakes. He completed 21 of 29 passes for 162 yards and a touchdown in a victory against the Raiders. Some people couldn’t get enough of the rags-to-riches story.
The week before that, filling in after Fields had injured his thumb during the Vikings game, he looked good and bad. Afterward, some people were appalled that anyone would seriously consider Bagent an option over Fields, who had been the 11th overall pick for the Bears in the 2021 draft.
The up-and-down, to-and-fro emotional swings figure to go on if Bagent continues to start for a wounded Fields, or if Fields returns and continues to struggle.
It’s not a great situation, but at least it’s interesting. Interesting is good.
Nothing against Bagent, who is a huge question mark.
Nothing against Fields, who isn’t a bust but is trending in the wrong direction.
Everything against the Bears for putting themselves in this position.
I won’t pick at your scabs by running down the long list of quarterbacks the franchise thought might be the answer over the years or the list of quarterbacks the Bears knew weren’t the answer, but, hey, they had to push someone out there. Since 2000, they’ve started 29 different quarterbacks.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Bears fans might think it does because it’s all they’ve known. But teams have been known to find good quarterbacks. The 49ers found one in Brock Purdy, the last player taken in the 2022 draft. He became San Francisco’s starter last season after Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo got injured. He was good enough to help the 49ers get to the NFC Championship Game. Purdy is still the starter. Lance and Garoppolo are gone.
I mentioned earlier that there are at least two ways to look at Bagent. Here’s a third:
Whether he’s real or not is a debate that won’t go away anytime soon, but let’s pretend for a moment that he is the real deal. If the Bears ever solve their decades-long quarterback problem, wouldn’t this be the most fitting way? With a virtual unknown from a virtually unknown school? By luck and fate and somebody up there getting tired of laughing at the franchise?
After years of trying to find someone to play the most important position in football, and play it well, wouldn’t it be perfect if the Bears discovered a for-real quarterback far, far away from the big lights, at Division II Shepherd University? After whiffs on high draft picks and veterans, wouldn’t it make the most sense that this lost and wandering team would find water in a tiny hole in the desert?
Last year, Bagent was playing at 5,000-seat Ram Stadium in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. On Sunday night, he was playing at 70,240-seat SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
If that seems weird and otherworldly, well, the Bears are weird and reside on another planet. You’ve seen the results. You’ve seen the seven playoff appearances over the past 32 seasons. The one playoff victory over the past 17 seasons. That unpleasant history tells us the Bears don’t know what they’re doing.
What would be better than an inept organization stumbling onto a phenom? It would be “The Natural’’ meets “Major League,’’ but without the conniving owner trying to lose on purpose. I’m still workshopping the idea.
One might argue that finding a good quarterback on a speck of the map is a tribute to great scouting and steely decision-making.
Then one wakes up. One remembers that we’re playing fantasy football here. Bagent didn’t play well in a bad loss to the Chargers on Sunday. The Bears fell to 2-6.
I miss Cinderella.
