Sitting within the north finish zone of Soldier Field on Sunday throughout the third quarter of the Chicago Bears recreation with the Minnesota Vikings, I seen quarterback Justin Fields heading towards the exit holding his proper hand.
I nudged one among my buddies and pointed to Fields.
“We (bleeped) now,” he mentioned.
Neither of us had any thought Fields had been injured on a earlier play, and we weren’t actually positive who the backup was that day. Would or not it’s the man referred to as “the Peterman” or the rookie whose first title escaped us?
It turned out to be the rookie, Tyson Bagent, who could be making his NFL debut.
We had been all excited to witness the beginning of the Bagent period, realizing it couldn’t be a lot worse than the present period, or any current period for that matter.
Bagent fumbled the ball away on the primary collection, however finally righted himself and led a spirited fourth-quarter comeback that had Soldier Field rocking. I flashed again to my favourite unknown quarterback, Kent Nix, coming off the bench to spark a late win in my first recreation at Soldier Field.
Nix did it within the season opener in opposition to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1971. Could Bagent be Nix 2.0?
You know the remainder of the story. Bagent’s underthrown go to DJ Moore resulted in a drive-killing interception, and the Bears went on to lose 19-13. No one was actually shocked. Not as a result of we didn’t belief Bagent, however as a result of we’ve watched the Bears lengthy sufficient to know the way this works.
Now Bagent reportedly will get a chance to indicate what he can do with every week of apply beneath his belt because the beginning quarterback, because of Fields’ dislocated proper thumb.
He’ll be part of an extended checklist of backup Bears quarterbacks thrust right into a starter’s position with an opportunity to erase the established order. From Zeke Bratkowski to Mike Phipps, and from Mike Tomczak to Nick Foles, QB2 has been a central determine within the Bears’ historical past.
The franchise’s historic lack of ability to seek out reliable starters at all times means there’s somebody ready within the wings to take over. And that particular person is usually the individuals’s alternative, because the unknown is nearly at all times preferable to the identified in the case of Bears quarterbacks.
Only when the backup turns into the primary man do Bears followers understand they may have been a little bit too giddy in regards to the new man.
Fans clamored for Phipps over Bob Avellini, after which for Vince Evans over Phipps. Tomczak was the native boy who might do no flawed as Jim McMahon’s backup, till he might do no proper because the full-time starter after McMahon’s exit.
We seemingly waited ceaselessly for Kyle Orton to exchange Rex Grossman, after which noticed him dealt for Jay Cutler, the one Bears quarterback disliked by a big phase of followers irrespective of how he carried out on the sphere. We couldn’t look forward to rookie Mitch Trubisky to exchange the statuesque Mike Glennon, after which couldn’t look forward to the Bears to draft somebody new to exchange Trubisky.
It’s been a vicious cycle of Bearsness our entire lives, and one thing we’ve realized to reside with.
I recall as a younger fan considering Nix could be the one to steer the Bears again to glory. I used to be already bored with watching “old” Jack Concannon, who was solely in his late 20s. After that comeback win over the Steelers, Nix got here off the bench once more to upset the Vikings and was then named a starter for the New Orleans Saints recreation. The Bears scored 5 first-half touchdowns in a 35-14 win to go 3-1, and a brand new star was born. Tribune Bears author Cooper Rollow referred to as him “the cool, implacable Kent Nix.” I used to be offered.
But Nix was injured the next week in a loss to the San Francisco 49ers, so I shortly discovered a brand new backup hero, the immortal Bobby Douglass, a left-handed QB who ran quite a bit and threw passes so laborious it might break his receivers’ palms.
Douglass preceded Gary Huff, who finally led to Avellini, and so forth.
There was a Cade McNown and a Josh McCown; a Rusty Lisch and a Peter Tom Willis; a Henry Burris and a Chad Hutchinson. The litany of backup quarterbacks consists of names which might be remembered lengthy after something they did on the sphere is recalled, solely due to the Bears’ storied lack of ability to seek out somebody who might really get a soccer right into a receiver’s palms.
I don’t know sufficient about Bagent to know whether or not he’ll succeed the place the others didn’t. I do discover it mind-boggling that Bears administration made a very inexperienced rookie the backup to a comparatively inexperienced Fields based mostly on a few preseason performances and anticipated him to be prepared in mid-October.
But Bagent appears competent, poised and fearless sufficient to deserve his shot, and he’ll get the good thing about the doubt from followers Sunday if he begins in opposition to the Las Vegas Raiders.
Until he doesn’t. That’s the sweetness and the curse of being the Bears’ backup quarterback. Everyone loves you while you’re on the sideline not throwing interceptions. But that new-car scent shortly wears off as soon as they’ve seen you a number of quarters and you continue to haven’t delivered.
Hopefully he succeeds in a brief stint, and Fields returns quickly to complete out the season that may resolve whether or not he deserves a brand new deal, or whether or not the Bears want a brand new QB1.
Bears followers are at all times ready on one thing. It’s what they do finest.
Why ought to this 12 months be any completely different?
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Source: www.bostonherald.com