Bears Richer for the Tyson Bagent Experience
Bears coach Matt Eberflus puts a game tape on these days and often notes one trend.
"I'm like, 'this guy's playing quarterback?' " Eberflus said.
Some have suggested this is the year of the backup quarterback in the NFL.
It always is. There just aren't enough good quarterbacks to go around and starting quarterbacks get hurt. The latest was Bengals starter Joe Burrow in Thursday night's game. Justin Fields was merely one of many.
In all, there have been 16 backups start games in the NFL this season and a record nine rookies for 10 weeks.
"You try to watch these crossover games and it's happened a lot," Eberflus said. "I think it's historic, right? Those guys have to be ready to go. Our guy was. It was good that he was in there. My hat's off to the coaches."
Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy and quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko took Tyson Bagent and turned a totally inexperienced, undrafted Division II rookie into a passer viable enough to get two wins in four starts.
"My hat's off to Getsy and Janocko to be able to train a rookie to come in there and to go 2-2 and to be able to function the way he functioned," Eberflus said. "My hat's off to Tyson to be able to do that."
At least in wins and losses they've been among the most successful.
Bagent was 2-2 starting and that's well ahead of .432 winning percentage teams had with backups starting (16 wins, 31 losses). Not all of them are Joshua Dobbs, and not even Dobbs was the Dobbs with Minnesota with one starting win and another win when he came in and pulled it out. Dobbs had been 1-7 in Arizona as starter before his magical two games in Minnesota.
Bagent had a passer rating of 71.4 and that's lower than the average for the 16 backups who have been forced into starting roles. The average is 73.3.
Bagent has been a more accurate passer, though, at 65.7% (94 of 143, 859 yards, 3 TDs, 6 INTs). The average completion percentage is 61.2% for backups who have been forced to start.
The Bears now are more fortunate than other teams because the starter returns. The starter is out for so many others.
Eberflus reports Fields as ready to go as he'll ever be after a week of practice.
"I thought he improved. I thought he got a feel for where he was and I thought he improved every single day," Eberflus said. "You get that timing with the receivers on the concepts you're running that particular week.
"I thought he got his footwork back where it needed to be. And I thought the accuracy was good, got better as the week went. I thought he was good."
There seems to be a boost of energy with Fields' return and not just from the offense.
"There's an excitement, no doubt," Eberflus said. "I think that certainly having our starter back is definitely a boost.
"You could see the defense getting excited about it and talking to him on the side in the building, and certainly the offensive guys were excited about it.
Of course, Fields is feeling this way as well.
"He's been champing at the bit to play," Eberflus said. "He really tried to play last week. It just wasn't there (last week), wasn't ready yet.
"With that longer break he's got a chance to really get back in there. You could see for sure that he was always asking the trainers, 'hey when can I get back?' We did it right. We worked it back in there. We're excited he's back."
And if anything happens, the Bears can be thankful they are among those with a backup whos already been tested.
2023 NFL Backups Starting
Passer, team, record starting, passer rating
Tyson Bagent, BEARS, 2-2, 71.4
Zach Wilson, Jets, 3-5, 74.6
Joshua Dobbs, Cardinals-Vikings, 2-7, 85.1
Gardner Minshew, Colts, 3-3, 83.8
Will Levis, Titans, 1-2, 80.7
Aidan O'Connell, Raiders, 2-1, 76.4
P.J. Walker, Browns, 1-1, 51.3
Tyrod Taylor, Giants, 1-2, 92.1
Taylor Heinicke, Falcons, 0-2, 84.2
Andy Dalton, Panthers, 0-1, 88.4
Tommy DeVito, Giants, 0-1, 65.4
Brian Hoyer, Raiders, 0-1, 50.8
Brett Rypien, Rams, 0-1, 49.5
Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Browns, 0-1, 28.0
Jaren Hall, Vikings, 1-0, 108.7
Clayton Tune, Cardinals, 0-1, 22.6
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