Bears fans sure hope Case Keenum is right with his 2026 breakout candidate

Chicago Bears veteran quarterback Case Keenum has played a lot of football since he entered the league as an undrafted free agent in 2012. 

The Bears’ backup quarterback has seen his fair share of explosive playmakers, and he had glowing remarks for one of Chicago’s young wide receivers. Keenum joined the “In Good Company with Mitch Morse,” and former Pro Bowl center Mitch Morse asked Keenum to highlight a former or current teammate who doesn’t receive the proper praise as a player. Keenum thought about the question for 10 seconds and then gave his answer. 

“I’ll go with a guy that I think is going to have a breakout year, and I think that’s Luther Burden (III) this next year,” Keenum said. “I think we saw some flashes of it. … We saw some flashes of it, man. He wasn’t all the way healthy during the spring. You know, having a good offseason, I’m excited to see what he looks like coming back here in OTAs, but there’s only been a certain few guys, receiver-wise, that I have seen a look in their eye and I’ve gone over to the play caller and been like, ‘Get this dude the ball’ and he’s one of them. He’s got a little bit of that dog in him or whatever you want to call it. It factor.”

Case Keenum thinks Luther Burden will have breakout season in 2026

The former No. 39 pick from Missouri has made quite the impression after his rookie season. Burden caught 47 passes for 652 yards and two touchdowns. Despite having a slow start through the first two games of his rookie season, Burden exploded for 101 receiving yards and a touchdown on three receptions against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 3. 

With wide receiver DJ Moore now in Buffalo, Burden will get more of the workload this upcoming season. Another year in head coach Ben Johnson’s offense should only create more big-time plays for the young wideout. 

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Keenum has been around the NFL game for more than a decade, and he just gave Bears fans a reason to be excited for the 2026 NFL season.