Bears' Tyson Bagent Will Start vs. Saints; Justin Fields 'Week-to-Week' with Injury

Tyson Bagent will get a third consecutive start for the Chicago Bears.

During an appearance on ESPN 1000, Bears head coach Matt Eberflus said Justin Fields is still "week-to-week" because of a dislocated right thumb on his throwing hand. That means Bagent will be under center for the Week 9 matchup against the New Orleans Saints.

Fields suffered the injury during Chicago's Week 6 loss to the Minnesota Vikings and gave way to the relatively unknown Bagent.

The undrafted rookie from Shepherd University had some immediate growing pains, as he lost a fumble that was returned for a touchdown and threw a late interception to end the Bears' comeback hopes against the Vikings.

Yet he helped lead Chicago to a victory over the Las Vegas Raiders the following week and was primed to perhaps catch the attention of a national audience against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday Night Football.

Instead, he threw zero touchdowns and two interceptions in a 30-13 loss.

Bagent didn't exactly get much help from his teammates, as the offensive line struggled at times and wide receiver Velus Jones Jr. fell over and dropped a surefire touchdown pass. Bagent also ran for a touchdown, although the outcome was never truly in doubt.

The bigger picture may be more concerning for Chicago.

It isn't a realistic playoff contender, but an important part of this season was figuring out if Fields is the long-term franchise quarterback. He struggled at the beginning of the season but seemed to be rounding into form right before the injury with a combined eight touchdown passes in back-to-back weeks against the Denver Broncos and Washington Commanders.

Now he is sidelined after building some individual momentum, and the Bears will ultimately have to decide whether they will take a quarterback in the first round of the 2024 NFL draft or stick with Fields.

And Bagent will have the opportunity to continue making an impression in the meantime.