Week 5 will be the second straight start for Tyson Bagent. He has started for the Chicago Bears before, but not with Ben Johnson. So, while this is his second season in the Johnson offense, a lot of things are still new. Despite being a backup and not having full control of the offense, the Bears head coach made it clear that he has full confidence in Bagent. His message to Bagent was to push the ball down the field.
"You've got the green light, man," said Johnson about Bagent.
So, the Bears offense could start to get a bit more spread out while they await the return of Caleb Williams.
Chicago Bears head coach has a message for Tyson Bagent
So far this season, Bagent is 3-for-4, throwing the ball 20 yards downfield. He has 78 yards, and while the one incompletion was an interception, the other three explosive receptions made it worth it.
He is only throwing 9.3% of his passes downfield. He is living in the short game. Bagent has thrown 20.9% of his passes in the medium part of the field, and 39.5% of his passes are in the short part of the field. Then, he has 18.6% of his passes going behind the line of scrimmage.
To be fair, this is about where the starter, Caleb Williams, was for the season. He had 9.1% of his passes go 20 yards downfield, 16.4% in the medium part, 41.8% in the short part, and then 18.2 behind the line.
Of course, only 5.8% of the pass attempts were deep for Keenum. Still, he was not trying to test his arm.
For what it is worth, last year Williams had 14.3% of his passes go deep, and 20.2% in the medium part. So, 34.5% were at least 10 yards. So, when the offense gets in rhythm, there are more deep passes.
Still, it will be interesting to see Bagent adjust based on the coaches giving him the green light to take more shots. They might be seeing the defense creep in on him more than they would for Williams, and there might be more shots available to take.
So, the team might need Bagent to take more deep shots than they would with Williams. The Packers present a tough test, and Jonathan Gannon has kept the team in games despite offensive issues. Can Bagent beat them with the deep ball?
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