The undrafted rookie showed enough in his NFL debut Sunday to earn a start.
I’d rather see more of Tyson Bagent than more of the same from Justin Fields.
I’d rather see what the undrafted quarterback from Division II Shepherd University can do with one NFL game under his belt than see what I know I’m going to get from the first-round pick from Ohio State after 33 NFL games.
That might seem like a knee-jerk reaction, especially after Bagent’s up-and-down performance in relief of an injured Fields on Sunday. Maybe it is. The damage from years of watching bad quarterbacking in Chicago has made me twitchy.
Even though Bagent threw a very bad interception Sunday in a 19-13 loss to the Vikings, he showed enough in his emergency performance to deserve another look. That’s all you need to know about Fields and the state of the 1-5 Bears.
They’re staring at another lost season and the likelihood of another high draft pick, so why not go with the unproven kid instead of the proven mediocrity? Why not see if Bagent can play while the team competes (sort of) for the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft?
Fields suffered a hand injury early in the third quarter Sunday. X-rays were negative. He wanted to come back in the game, but he couldn’t grip the ball, according to coach Matt Eberflus.
So in came Bagent, whom fans fell in love with in the preseason because fans are required to fall in love with an unsung quarterback in preseason.
He received the same uneven-to-bad blocking that Fields has received for the past three years but exhibited a much better feel for the passing game than Fields ever has.
