While Chicago Bears fans won't be seeing Caleb Williams under center as the starting quarterback in their preseason opener against the Cleveland Browns, there is still plenty to get excited about with the next man in line: Tyson Bagent.
Bears head coach Ben Johnson announced that some of the starters would be sitting for the Browns game, including Williams, and named Bagent the starter. While speaking to the media, Bagent shared his excitement to be taking over as the starter and getting a chance to prove himself.
"The opportunity is everything," Bagent said via CHGO. "Every rep that I can get out there is an absolute dream come true to me. So I'm extremely excited and I'm looking forward to, you know, putting out good tape out there and, you know, doing whatever we need to do to be successful."
Bears fans have to be pumped about Tyson Bagent's time to play in the preseason
Bagent has been one of the great stories on the Bears since arriving as an undrafted free agent in 2023. While he hasn't played much with Williams over the last two years, he performed well when he was called upon in 2023 to replace Justin Fields.
During that 2023 campaign, Bagent started four games, going 2-2 as the starter. He finished that year completing 65.7% of his passes for 859 yards and three touchdowns to six interceptions. Bagent also added109 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
In his first season under Johnson, Bagent shined in the preseason and made quite the statement over Case Keenum in the QB2 position battle. Bagent completed 66.7% of his passes for 511 yards and five touchdowns to one interception, while also rushing for 28 yards.
During training camp last year, the Bears rewarded Bagent with a two-year contract extension, and he later got emotional about what the team did. That solidified the reason why Bears fans love Bagent so much.
Bagent is everything Bears fans want in a backup quarterback and a teammate. He's grateful for the opportunity, and he worked his butt off to make the roster each year. Bagent is about as gritty a player as there is on the team.
Not only that, but he's honestly just a really good quarterback. He's an athletic QB who can use his legs to pick up yards and has gotten more accurate with the football each year. There's a reason there were so many rumors about him potentially being traded for by other teams, but the Bears made sure to shut those down.
Read more: What should Ben Johnson realistically expect from Bears' offense in 2026?
Sure, this is a preseason game, and it may not mean anything in the grand scheme of things, but Bagent gets to play football, and he's a ton of fun to watch. If Bears fans have time on Saturday afternoon to turn on NFL Network to watch some football, they will be in for a treat to see Bagent kill it in Johnson's offense once again.
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