One change that was easy to notice in the Chicago Bears' loss to the Minnesota Vikings was how much Tyler Scott was playing. Scott played 64 snaps in five weeks before playing 39 snaps, a career-high. He played 59.1% of the snaps after his career-high entering the game was 23.4%. So, is this a sign of things to come?
The Chicago Bears are playing Tyler Scott more
It makes sense on the timeline. First, the team is now three weeks removed from letting Chase Claypool go via trade. They spent two weeks shaping things and playing Equanimeous St. Brown. With St. Brown injured, the bigger role went to Scott. Beyond that, Scott is a rookie so he was not expected to contribute in the first month, even though there are expectations for him down the stretch. This was the time to get him involved, and the St. Brown injury and Claypool trade made it easier.
It is also good timing because Tyler Scott is familiar with Tyson Bagent. Bagent threw 14 passes on Sunday, and three were directed at Scott. That is more in one half than any of the five games he played with Justin Fields.
Scott saw a 21.4% target share with Bagent and a 3.7% target share with Justin Fields. That is not quite a fair comparison, but it is notable that Scott had one target in the game when Fields left late in the third quarter but then finished with three more from Bagent.
This could be because Scott has spent months practicing with the depth quarterbacks, and that would include plenty of time with Tyson Bagent. They even connected in the preseason.
When you put it together, we have to see more Tyler Scott. The team needs to know what he can bring. He is familiar with Tyson Bagent and can help ease the new quarterback into the game. Beyond that, who else are they going to play at wide receiver? It is not like Velus Jones could do it, right?