The Chicago Bears have made a final decision on who will start at quarterback for Monday night’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Fox Sports‘ Jay Glazer reported Sunday morning on the network’s pregame show, potentially ending a week in which Chicago briefly risked having no healthy quarterback at all.
According to Glazer, Case Keenum will start at quarterback for the Bears against the Eagles on Monday Night Football, with Tyson Bagent as his backup.
The decision caps a chaotic five days at Halas Hall, where the Bears watched two quarterbacks go down in one game and spent the week sorting out who would be taking snaps under center Monday.
Bagent, according to Glazer’s report, cleared the concussion protocol Sunday morning and will serve as Keenum’s No. 2 rather than push for the start himself. Caleb Williams strained his right hamstring in the fourth quarter of Chicago’s 9-3 home loss to Minnesota in Week 2, and was carted off a rain-soaked Soldier Field after getting hurt on a scramble.
Bears coach Ben Johnson called it week-to-week and never officially ruled Williams out, but the quarterback did not practice all week and was finally scratched on Saturday.
Bagent entered in relief against the Vikings and went 5 of 9 for 54 yards, absorbing a pounding that included a helmet-rattling sack on the game’s final play. He reported concussion symptoms Tuesday, was absent from Halas Hall for two straight days, and needed a Saturday practice session to complete the NFL’s five-step return-to-play process in time, according to Glazer.
Case Keenum’s Long Road Back to a Chicago Bears Start
Keenum, 38, hasn’t thrown a regular-season pass since Dec. 24, 2023, but Monday marks the 67th start of a career that began unnoticed. Nobody drafted him out of Houston in 2012, despite a college résumé that still holds up: he shattered the NCAA passing record book, finishing with 19,217 yards and 155 touchdown throws. The Texans signed him anyway, launching an odyssey through St. Louis, Minnesota, Denver, Washington, Cleveland, Buffalo and Houston again before Chicago.
The high point came in 2017, when a Minnesota injury handed Keenum a starting job he turned into an 11-3 record as a starter and a 61-yard touchdown that stunned New Orleans in the final seconds of a playoff game remembered as the Minneapolis Miracle. The Vikings let him leave anyway, and Keenum spent years bouncing between backup jobs.
He carries 15,175 career passing yards across 80 games into Monday, with 79 touchdowns against 51 interceptions. Chicago signed him in April 2025 as a mentor, then extended him this March in a deal that suddenly looks a lot smarter.
How Keenum Changes the Bears’ Plan vs. Philadelphia
Johnson built his offense around Williams’ arm and legs, paired with a run game that piled up 255 yards in last year’s Black Friday win at Philadelphia. None of that translates cleanly to a 38-year-old game manager making his first start in three years. Expect a script leaning on D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai, shorter drops and far fewer designed quarterback runs than Chicago has shown all season.
Johnson has never started a backup quarterback in his head-coaching career, in Detroit or Chicago, and Bagent’s status as a cleared, active No. 2 gives him an escape hatch if Keenum struggles or takes a hit of his own.
Philadelphia, meanwhile, can load the box and dare a 38-year-old to beat Vic Fangio’s defense down the field. The betting market has reacted, moving the Eagles from a modest favorite toward a mid-single-digit line with the total sliding into the low 40s. Chicago can still win by controlling the clock and avoiding negative plays, but Keenum’s last meaningful start came three years ago against a healthier, more physical Eagles defense than the one Chicago tore apart last November.
Bears Reportedly Make Final Decision on Starting Quarterback Before Eagles Game