Tyler Bagent took over at QB for an injured Justin Fields on Sunday, as the Bears hosted the Raiders on an absolute beautiful fall day in Chicago. When looking at the schedule before the season, you penciled in a win for this game. When looking at the schedule, and seeing the Bears, I’m sure the Raiders (as most teams do) penciled this in as win for them. One of us had to be right. It’s nice to be right once in a while. Yes, the Bears brought home their 2nd W of the season vs the Las Vegas Raiders by a score of 30-12. How about that?!?
The biggest discussion point after the game was Tyler Bagent. In his first game as a starter, he matched the same number of victories that Justin Fields had in his 6 attempts. So he’s better than Justin, right? OK, let’s talk about this. First of all, I’m very happy the Bears won the game; this is first and foremost… always. I don’t care who is playing which position. I don’t care who the coach is. I don’t care who the GM is. I don’t care who the QB is. I want the Bears to win, period. Whoever is in any of those positions at any time doesn’t really matter in the big scheme of things; I want the Bears to win. They won Sunday; I am happy. The fact that Tyler Bagent was at the QB position for this W makes me like him. Do I think he is the answer at the position? I’m a long way from answering that question.
Look, I was still trying to answer that question for Justin Fields; I still think the jury is out on that. The results of the first 6 weeks definitely has to factor into the answer to that question. Have we seen enough to come up with a definitive answer to the Justin Fields question? I don’t think so. I think it’s been very difficult to judge Fields fairly. I’ve seen things that I like; I’ve seen things I have not liked. I think Justin Fields is a very talented player. It’s funny though. We were already replacing him with a QB that will be coming out in the draft next year, and now, we’re replacing him with an undrafted QB that won a single game… we’re quick on that trigger, let me tell you. For me though, I’m very slow to pull any trigger. I want to give a guy the longest leash possible to prove it, especially with the flashes we’ve seen from Justin. In my opinion, he’s still the guy we need to decide about.
That being said, I think I’ve seen enough from Bagent to make one decision, pretty confidently. He is a very capable backup QB. The decision that was made in the offseason to go with him as our backup QB was a good one. He was able to come in, after a week of preparation, and win a game for us; bravo Tyler! Were the Raiders a good team? Does it really matter? If Fields is not ready to go, Bagent will get his next text next Sunday night in Los Angeles against the Chargers. Remember Khalil Mack? I’d be interested to see how he does then; I’d be interested to see how Justin Fields would fare in that game too. Who will be behind center? Whoever it is, I’ll be rooting for them; I want to see the Bears win. Have I mentioned that?
Is Justin Fields the guy? Will Tyler Bagent be able to make the jump from a capable backup QB to a capable starting QB? We have more questions than answers at this point; I’m interested to find out the answers. Heading into this season, I think the goal was to answer some questions; I think we’re still doing our homework. In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy the heck out of this victory. See you next week. Bear Down!!!
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