Tyson Bagent Efficiently Leads Bears to Win

Without many mistakes, Bears quarterback Tyson Bagent

On a day when they controlled the line of scrimmage, Tyson Bagent was everything the Bears needed—nothing more, nothing less.

The undrafted rookie started for injured Justin Fields Sunday threw short, handed off and was exactly the kind of low-risk quarterback required to break a 10-game home losing streak.

While Bagent played efficiently, the Bears defense dominated the Las Vegas Raiders in their best overall showing of the Matt Eberflus coaching era and running back D'Onta Foreman scored three touchdowns in a 30-12 victory.

"I feel like that's a staple on how I've always tried to play quarterback, just getting the ball out of your hands, and just trying to combine that with making really good decisions," Bagent said.

Bagent, the first Bears QB starter from Division II, went 21 of 29 for 162 yards including his first-ever TD pass to Foreman for 5 yards.

"We wanted him to have good rhythm, timing, good protection; don't let 98 (defensive end Maxx Crosby) wreck the game," coach Matt Eberflus said. "Those were all our keys to victory. And distribute the ball to skill players, and when you're able to run the ball the way we were, they have to come up the line of scrimmage and in some good advantageous pass situations for us offensively. Overall it was really great effort by the whole group."

Foreman's 89 yards rushing on 16 carries complemented the efficient passing style and the takeaway defense complemented everything.

"We wanted to come into the game and run the ball and we did a really nice job of that, controlling the game that way and also being able to stop them and I thought that was really good by the offensive line, the defensive line," coach Matt Eberflus said. "When you can own the line of scrimmage like that, I always think that's a positive."

Jaylon Johnson capped the win and defensive effort with a 39-yard pick-6 off Brian Hoyer for a 30-6 lead, then intercepted Aidan O'Connell with 4:32 left for the exclamation point.

The defense held the Raiders to 2-of-9 on third downs and had an interception from Tremaine Edmunds as well, while Bagent was sacked just twice on the day and the Bears converted 8-of-13 on third downs.

There was no comeback from the Raiders in the second half, or even the hint, and after the Bears lost a home game they led by 21 points to Denver this was a relief.

"I think it's hard to start fast in the second half when you have such a controlling first half," Bagent said. "So I think that was just another one of the focal points. You know, don't let this be a comeback story at the end of the day.

"I thought Coach Getsy at halftime, on the whiteboard, able to dial up some outstanding plays that we were looking forward to running in the second half, and I thought we were able to execute a lot of those."

Foreman had ended a 69-yard drive with a 2-yard TD run in the first quarter, then Tremaine Edmunds intercepted a pass over the middle to set up a 34-yard drive to a 3-yard Foreman TD run as the Bears went into the locker room up 14-3.

"It feels great, man," Edmunds said. "And that's the resilience this group has, this team has. Obviously it was very frustrating last week. But we're not looking in the past, man. I'm always focused on getting better, focused on repeating that performance as far as domination."

The Bears (2-5) forced a punt to start the second half, then methodically marched 88 yards in 8:16, exactly the kind of a scoring drive they needed at the time. Foreman caught a toss in the flat at the 3 and ran through tacklers into the end zone to finish his scoring.

"I mean, I've always been confident in my ability to catch a ball," said Foreman. "I've just never had really the opportunity to do so. Like I said, when I get those opportunities, it's take advantage of it."

The Raiders (3-4) had 75 of their 235 net yards after they were already down 30-6. Johnson made the first of his two interceptions with 5:36 left after Cairo Santos' 54-yard field goal lifted the Bears lead to 24-6. He plucked it along the sidelines and scooted 39 yards for his first TD. Then he added another off backup QB Aidan O'Connell, his third career interception, to make it a three-takeaway day.

With a contract on the line for Johnson, the picks proved big. But he enjoyed something else better. It was something the Bears hadn't experienced since Week 3 of the 2022 season.

"Just honestly just going out here and getting the Dub for the home crowd and getting the Dub for all of the city," Johnson said. "I know it's been a long time coming. It's really about giving them what they want. They show up each and every game, giving us energy and they deserve the W."

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