Bad Bagent Bails Out The Packers

THE POST MORTEM

It’s clear what happened yesterday.

The NFL moved kickoff from 3:25 p.m. to noon, and apparently nobody updated the Bears. Offense. Defense. Coaching staff. Everybody showed up physically. Mentally, they were still waiting for the afternoon game. [Kickoff change] ↗

That has to be it. Because I’d hate to think we actually prepared all week to look like that.

Let’s start with Bagent.

He looked overwhelmed. Hesitant when he needed to throw. Confident when he absolutely should not have been. Open receivers might as well have been invisible, but a crowd of Packers? Apparently that was worth a shot.

This wasn’t Shepherd. This was Lambeau. And he didn’t look ready to be an NFL backup, let alone the guy responsible for winning a division game.

The warning signs were there against the Jets. Bagent had one interception count and three others wiped out by penalties. [Jets game report] ↗

And let’s remember who we’re talking about. The Jets went the entire 2025 season without an interception. They didn’t have one this season, either.

Then Bagent came along. Very generous of him to help end a 20-game drought. [NFL report] ↗

Winning that game didn’t make those throws good decisions. It meant we got away with them.

On Sunday, we didn’t.

Which brings us to Ben Johnson.

After that first interception, I wanted Bagent out. We had already seen enough warning signs the week before. How much more did Ben need to see?

Apparently, 31–7.

That’s when Keenum finally got his chance. Bagent finished with 87 passing yards and two interceptions. We waited until the fourth quarter to look for a spark. By then, the house had burned down. [Official recap] ↗

And this is where the accountability thing bothers me.

Swift fumbled against the Jets and didn’t get another touch. Fine. Protect the football. There should be consequences. [Bears’ Week 4 review] ↗

But where was that same urgency with Bagent?

Where were the cojones to make the uncomfortable decision while the game was still there to be won?

You can’t preach a standard and then make the rest of the team sit through that. Keeping a struggling quarterback comfortable isn’t fair to everybody else trying to win.

Maybe Ben’s decision-making was still on the 3:25 schedule, too.

Then there’s the defense.

What the hell were we doing?

Love would launch the ball into the Wisconsin sky, everybody would have time to locate it, discuss it, file a flight plan, and somehow a Packers receiver would come down with it.

They even had a deep touchdown called back, then went right back downfield for another one. A 53-yard touchdown on third-and-22. [Packers’ game report] ↗

Third. And. Twenty-two.

The defense clearly had its alarm set for the afternoon kickoff. Somebody should’ve checked whether snooze was still on.

And special teams didn’t escape this mess. Santos missed from 43 when three points would have cut the deficit to ten. Thomas did give us a 61-yard kickoff return later, so I’m not going to pretend every play was bad. [Official recap] ↗

But I’m tired of holding my breath during the routine stuff.

In my opinion, Hightower has to go. At some point, the conversation has to move past another week of cleaning things up. How long does cleaning this up take?

That’s what made Sunday so frustrating. The whole thing felt familiar.

An Eberflus team.

A Trestman team.

A Nagy team.

Different coach. Same feeling watching it.

Deflated. Defeated. Deactivated. Dead.

To me, this was the poorest outing of Ben Johnson’s head coaching career. The Bears looked unprepared, and the decisions made during the game did nothing to change that.

Hopefully Caleb is healthy enough to start against Atlanta. This offense needs him.

But Caleb coming back cannot become permission for everybody else to keep playing like this. He shouldn’t have to rescue the quarterback position, the play-calling, and the entire mood of the franchise every Sunday.

Otherwise, I expect more of the same.

Somebody double-check the kickoff time.