So much for the idea that the Chicago Bears could simply weather the storm until Caleb Williams returned.
Sunday's 31-7 embarrassment against the Green Bay Packers was ugly enough on the scoreboard. Watching Chicago turn the ball over five times while its offense accomplished next to nothing made it even worse. Now Ben Johnson has a quarterback decision to make, and there's a good chance Bears fans won't love either answer.
Ben Johnson has seen enough of Tyson Bagent
Tyson Bagent wasn't supposed to be Caleb Williams. Nobody expected that. The Bears just needed somebody who could keep the offense moving without constantly putting the defense in impossible situations.
Apparently, even that was asking too much.
Chicago couldn't establish anything resembling a consistent attack against Green Bay. Bagent struggled, the turnovers piled up, and Johnson eventually decided he'd rather see what Case Keenum could do.
That's quite a statement from a head coach who has spent months working with Bagent.
The problem is that Chicago doesn't have a particularly attractive alternative sitting on the bench.
Keenum is 38 years old. He's been around forever, knows how to read a defense and isn't likely to get overwhelmed by the atmosphere of an NFL game. But there's a reason he entered the season as a backup rather than somebody's unquestioned starter.
So what does Johnson do?
Give Bagent another opportunity and risk watching the same mistakes? Or hand things over to Keenum and hope experience makes up for what Chicago loses in mobility?
It's not exactly the kind of decision Johnson envisioned making when he arrived in Chicago.
The Bears' problems aren't limited to quarterback
Here's what should bother Bears fans even more than Bagent's performance.
Where was the adjustment?
Johnson has built his reputation on creating opportunities for offensive players. His work in Detroit helped turn the Lions into one of football's most difficult offenses to defend. Chicago hired him hoping some of that creativity would follow him down Interstate 94.
Yet against Green Bay, the Bears looked like a team without many answers.
When your backup quarterback is struggling, why keep putting him in situations where mistakes can bury you? Run the football. Get the ball out quickly. Make the defense tackle somebody instead of asking your quarterback to manufacture something that isn't there.
Sure, those adjustments sound easier from the couch. But Johnson is getting paid to figure them out.
And the Bears didn't bring him in just to look brilliant when Williams is healthy.
The bigger concern isn't whether Bagent or Keenum can win Chicago a game. It's whether Johnson can build an offense that gives either one a reasonable chance.
Because right now, that seems like a pretty big ask.
Chicago needs answers before another season slips away
There's an argument for sticking with Bagent. One awful afternoon shouldn't automatically cost somebody his job, especially when the entire offense looked out of sorts.
There's also an argument for Keenum. Sometimes a veteran who knows his limitations is preferable to a younger quarterback trying too hard to prove himself.
Neither choice guarantees much.
And that's what makes Johnson's situation so uncomfortable.
Williams could return soon enough to make this discussion irrelevant. But what happens the next time he misses a game? Are the Bears going to find themselves right back here, hoping their backup quarterback can somehow survive four quarters?
That's not a particularly reassuring thought.
Chicago has spent years trying to put together an offense that doesn't require a weekly miracle. Johnson was supposed to change that.
He still might.
But after Sunday's disaster, he has to decide whether the problem is the quarterback running his offense or the offense he's asking that quarterback to run.
The Packers made both look pretty bad.
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