Mixed Results in Tyson Bagent's Debut

Tyson Bagent replaced Justin Fields and nearly led a comeback but it ended much like in other close Bears games the last few years—with an interception for a 19-13 loss.

Tyson Bagent could have been put in a better spot for his NFL debut.

Such is the life of a backup quarterback, a young one at that.

The Bears rookie from Division II Shepherd on Sunday coughed up a strip-sack for the winning points, led the team's only touchdown drive on the day and then threw an interception with the game on the line.

All in all, it wasn't a much different ending than the Bears are used to seeing with healthy Justin Fields leading fourth-quarter drives as they lost 19-13 to the Minnesota Vikings, but now their starter is injured with a bad throwing hand.

"You know, I think more so than anything, the most important thing in the NFL is to win and we didn't win," Bagent said of his debut. "So I think just kind of like what I said before, wanting to obviously win first and then after that just being excited that I was able to play quarterback in the NFL in a real game."

Most of the time Bagent is running the scout team against the Bears defense in practice and that's he earned the backup duties ahead of Nathan Peterman. He's not getting many first-team play reps at practices during the week.

"A handful, whenever Justin has a long play or he needs to communicate about something that happened on the last play, they will throw me in there (in practice). But most of the time, it's Justin's show and we let him get as prepared as he possibly can for the week coming."

And Fields went out about five minutes into the second half after a Danielle Hunter sack. So it became Bagent's show.

On his third play from Minnesota's 48, he was sacked by Josh Mettelus, fumbled and Jordan Hicks scooped and scored on a 42-yard return. At that point it looked bleak for a comeback facing a 19-6 deficit, but Bagent persisted and nearly did it.

First he had a drive from his own 10 to the Bears 45 that ended with a fourth-and-2 incompletion.

The Bears then went to Lucas Patrick at center in the fourth quarter over starter Cody Whitehair to help settle down Bagent, because the two had worked together with backups the most in training camp.

"Second drive going in, I took snaps from Lucas," Bagent said. "Felt really comfortable with both those guys (Whitehair and Patrick), and I think everybody, the offense as a whole, did a good job having my back and rallying around me and

making me feel good while I was in, so appreciate that."

Bagent started going to the player Fields had looked to most in the past, although not on Sunday -- DJ Moore. He found Moore twice for 42 yards to start a 77-yard TD drive. On the march, he went 4-for-4 for 55 yards on the drive and ended it with a 1-yard QB sneak to get the Bears within 19-13.

Finally, he threw an interception with the Bears driving for the winning points on a deep ball to Moore in man coverage. The Bears never got the ball back.

"I think that's just a result of me underthrowing the ball," Bagent said. "Got to give my guy a chance.

"You know, note that, watch the film and correct it for next week."

Going in on a moment's notice wasn't easy from an emotional standpoint, if not physically.

"Obviously you get butterflies because you're playing in front of so many people, and you know, the stakes are high in the NFL," he said. "But (I) felt really prepared, felt like the coaches did a good job of always preparing all the quarterbacks week-in and week-out just because it's always one play away.

"I felt good. Felt prepared and excited."

Now it's a matter of whether Fields is deemed ready to play next week as to whether Bagent will prepare and start.

"Yeah, I'm obviously very confident in myself," he said. "Nothing changes for me.

"Since Day 1 I was preparing as if I was go to play the whole game. That's kind of how I approach the game. I like to know what's going on at all times. Nothing is really going to change for this week. Back to the drawing board and get ready for Vegas this coming week."

Except this time, he could be starting.

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