The Chicago Bears are likely going to be giving Tyson Bagent his first career NFL start at quarterback on Sunday. This is a big jump up from Shephard or even the Senior Bowl, where he connected with Luke Getsy, causing him to sign with the Bears as a UDFA.
Bagent led a scoring drive against Minnesota, but they were down two scores. In the drives during a one-score game, he threw an interception and had a sack-fumble that led to a score. It was fair to assume the Bears lost the game the second Justin Fields went down, but it is also fair to assume Tyson Bagent will perform better this Sunday than he did last Sunday.
3. Tyson Bagent has time to prepare as the Chicago Bears starter
It is so much harder for a quarterback to come in cold than it is for him to have time to prepare as the starter. You have to think about how much time Tyson Bagent spent at practice actually working on his game. All week Justin Fields gets as many reps as he can handle, and Bagent takes whatever is left. Bagent spends his time helping Fields in any way he can.
He was ready to fill in, but it is always tough in that spot. Now, the week is his. He can run first-team all week and will get every rep. The Chicago Bears should and will have a gameplan more suited for his skill set. It may be easier for them because they have been trying to get Justin Fields to play a style that fits Bagent and his skill set more.
Also, Bagent will have all of that time to study the Raiders' defense and know what they are going to do against him. He will come in prepared, he will have time with the skill players he did not, and the game plan will be for him and not Justin Fields. It is easy to see this going better.
2. The Las Vegas Raiders defense can be exposed by the Chicago Bears star wide out
The Chicago Bears have to get Tyson Bagent and D.J. Moore on the same page. We saw against the Washington Commanders that if the secondary is weak enough, it can be exposed. Both Jakorian Bennett and Marcus Peters have had issues this season. Peters is too old and lost a step while Bennett is too young and the rookie gets picked on. They both have three penalties this year, and receivers have beaten them throughout the season.
Gabe Davis had 92 yards, George Pickens hit 75 yards, Josh Palmer hit 77 yards, Christian Watson hit 91 yards, and Kendrick Bourne hit 89 yards. This group is not quite Washington bad, but they can be exposed by someone like D.J. Moore in a similar way.
Sometimes, it can be as simple as a screen to Moore. Or, against Washington, Fields just had to stand in the pocket and wait for Moore to run his double move and then throw the ball up. A lot of the passing production Justin Fields had this year was because D.J. Moor was making him look good, not the other way around. If Bagent forces the ball to Moore this weekend, the Raiders may not have the talent in the back end to do anything about it.
1. Will the Las Vegas Raiders look past the Chicago Bears?
This one may be looking a bit too deep. However, when you look at the Las Vegas Raiders schedule, this looks like a down spot. The team had a Monday Night Football game at home against the Green Bay Packers. The Raiders won an emotional game that went down to the end, and they shushed Packers fans despite playing at home.
Then, the Raiders saw Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots. Most of you know about Josh McDaniels and his relationship with that team. It had to be a Super Bowl-like win for the Raiders. When you look at their next game, they are back on Monday Night Football against the Detroit Lions.
Fresh off two wins that is a big game to look forward to. The Raiders coaches do not have much tape on Tyson Bagent as it is. They could waste time on Shepheard video, or they could look ahead to Detroit and hope that their defense can beat Bagent with vanilla looks. It would not be a shocking move.
Can Bagent lose to the Raiders just by showing vanilla looks? Yes. However, this may not be as challenging as Brian Flores dialing it up in a must-win division game. We will see.