Tyson Bagent reflects on his performance against Chargers |
CHICAGO - After such a promising victory against the Las Vegas Raiders, Bears fans certainly were not expecting what they saw against the Los Angeles Chargers the following week. Rookie quarterback Tyson Bagent looked good for the most part, with the exception of a few throws. Penalties were also a big issue, with a total of seven in the game. That combination is something that Bagent identified as key to Chicago’s loss.
“Penalties are never good. Want to try to play clean as much as possible. And then, besides that, I can’t make it worse,” Bagent said. “No bad plays, just neutral plays or good plays. So, I got to take that into next week and continue to get ready and do a better job taking care of the ball.” One clear distinction between Bagent and third-year quarterback Justin Fields is that Bagent seems to have a better ability to analyze where he made mistakes and improve than Fields ever did. While Fields made a lot of repetitive mistakes this year, primarily not knowing when to throw the ball away, Bagent seems to be more decisive and better at reading defenses. Still, he had some mistakes, but has clearly identified his areas of improvement. “I feel like there were a lot of plays where I’m getting through my reads and making the correct throws, and then I think there are a couple where, I haven’t watched the film yet but thinking off the top of my head, where I did maybe force the issue a little bit,” Bagent said. “So, got to do a better job of that going forward.” It is only a matter of time before Fields comes back and steps back into the role of the starting quarterback. However, that will not be in Sunday’s upcoming game against the New Orleans Saints (Noon / CBS) who are top in their division thus far this season. Despite that fact, Bagent is learning everything he can about being an NFL quarterback every week, whether he is playing or not. “I try to take things from every game that I play in. This is all still new. So, I try to take things from every game. I took a lot from last week,” Bagent said. “I’m going to take a lot from this week, and I’m going to take a lot from next week and the week after that. Whether I’m starting or not, I always take some things away from every time that we step on the field.” His cool mentality of staying emotionally consistent, whether there is a win or a loss, is something that helps his ability to learn and develop so much. This also seems to be an area where Fields is perhaps lacking, and Bagent has the upper hand. For the future of the season, the Bears definitely made one important move on Halloween that should help them play better complementary football - acquiring edge rusher Montez Sweat from the Washington Commanders. Sweat, ironically, played against the Bears back in week five when Chicago got their first win of the season. In that game, Sweat had 1.5 sacks. His ability to rush the passer should help the Bears more on defense, which in turn can help the offense to gain momentum and take control of games like they did against the Raiders.
