Five big takeaways from Chicago Bears’ loss vs. Minnesota Vikings in Week 6

CHICAGO – The Bears aren’t sure how long quarterback Justin Fields will be out after suffering a hand injury in Sunday’s loss to the Vikings, 19-13, at Soldier Field. Fields has an MRI scheduled Monday and the Bears hope to have more details on the injury.

For more on Fields’ injury read this story. Backup quarterback Tyson Bagent played most of the second half, but the comeback effort fell short after a late fourth-quarter interception.

Here are the five big takeaways from the game.

1. Can Tyson Bagent lead the Bears going forward?

If Fields misses extended time, the Bears could be moving forward with Bagent at quarterback. It was just a few weeks ago that the Bears swapped Bagent and veteran Nathan Peterman as the second- and third-string QBs. Bagent began the season as the No. 3, but that was likely due to his lack of experience. At some point, head coach Matt Eberflus felt confident enough to give Bagent the nod over Peterman.

Bagent was rock solid in the preseason, but he didn’t face any defensive starters in the preseason games. Starting in the regular season is a different animal.

The Bears signed Bagent as an undrafted rookie out of Division II Shepherd University and were pleasantly surprised by what they saw. So, too, have his teammates.

“We came in together starting at rookie minicamp,” rookie receiver Tyler Scott said. “Got drafted, came in, seeing what type of person he was, what type of guy he was, just as a person, first and foremost. He’s a cool dude to talk to. Easy to talk with. We would just talk about different things, whether plays, different looks, things of that nature. Then just watching him progressing, the confidence he walked with, I think it’s always his readiness and preparedness.”

Bagent scored a 1-yard rushing touchdown during Sunday’s game. Tight end Cole Kmet told him to make sure someone saved that football for him. Kmet echoed Scott, pointing out Bagent’s confidence.

That confidence in the huddle was awesome to hear from him, especially a guy who hasn’t played in the league yet. If he’s got to take over, we’re going to do our best to rally around him.”

—  Cole Kmet, Bears tight end

“That confidence in the huddle was awesome to hear from him, especially a guy who hasn’t played in the league yet,” Kmet said. “If he’s got to take over, we’re going to do our best to rally around him.”

Defensively, cornerback Jaylon Johnson said the Bears have to “push him” in practice this week, if indeed Bagent does start vs. the Raiders next week.

Bagent said his confidence comes from his preparation.

“It just comes from, kind of, not being OK until I have the game plan down,” Bagent said. “So, putting the pressure on myself to get everything down, understand what’s going on in the game and what my operation needs to be and then after that, it just all comes down to playing football and playing fast.”

2. Bears swap Whitehair in favor of Patrick at center

In the fourth quarter, the Bears pulled veteran center Cody Whitehair out of the game and inserted Lucas Patrick instead. Whitehair had been having some noticeable issues snapping the football throughout the game. Both quarterbacks had to jump to catch snaps at various times.

Eberflus said Whitehair wasn’t benched.

“[With] Tyson in there, we thought it was best for our team to have the guy that had more experience in there playing center,” Eberflus said. “That’s that position that we have that Lucas has played for a long time.”

Patrick had been playing center for the Bears prior to last week, when he suffered a concussion. Whitehair, though, has actually played more snaps at center over the course of his NFL career. Patrick has played more center this season so far, but Whitehair worked at center all offseason.

Patrick struggled at times, too, with his snaps. Notably, the snap on Bagent’s fourth-quarter interception was off the mark and may have affected the rhythm of the play.

Eberflus said they’ll keep evaluating the center position.

3. Bears waste solid effort from defense

Take away the strip sack touchdown that the offense allowed and the Bears defense gave up only 12 points on Sunday. The Bears had cornerbacks Kyler Gordon and Jaylon Johnson back in the lineup. Gordon hadn’t played since Week 1 and Johnson hadn’t played since Week 3.

Linebacker T.J. Edwards had a strip sack fumble against Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins, which linebacker Tremaine Edmunds recovered for a takeaway. Edwards nearly had a fumble recovery of his own earlier in the game, but upon replay review the refs ruled him out of bounds.

Later, the Bears defense also came up with a three-and-out on a key fourth-quarter possession and gave the offense the ball back with a chance to tie the game.

“We kept them down there and we kept getting stops and we weren’t looking at the scoreboard,” safety Jaquan Brisker said. “It was a huge positive and we’ve just got to find a way to get the ball.”

4. Nate Davis, Eddie Jackson suffer injuries

Early in the game, right guard Nate Davis left with an ankle injury. Fields and a defender rolled up on Davis from behind after Fields took a big hit in the pocket. Davis did not return to the game. He was spotted afterward wearing a boot on his foot.

Davis had been playing really well over the past two weeks. He missed time earlier this season following the death of a close family member. He was slow getting back into the swing of things, but when he did, the results showed.

“We lose our starting right guard, a really good player, somebody that knows the offense really good and that’s definitely something we’re feeling out there, losing him,” right tackle Darnell Wright said after the game.

Additionally, safety Eddie Jackson left the game with a foot injury and did not return. Jackson entered the day listed as questionable with the same foot injury that kept him out of the previous three games. It appears he re-aggravated the injury Sunday. Safety Elijah Hicks played most of the game in his place.

“[He] didn’t feel 100%, but he could have came back if we needed him,” Eberflus said.

5. Velus Jones Jr. averages 30 yards per kick return

Entering Sunday, the Bears had not returned a single kickoff. The NFL has a new rule this year where teams can fair catch a kickoff anywhere inside the 25-yard line and they will get the ball at the 25-yard line. In recent years, more teams liked to kick the kickoff just short of the goal line in order to try to pin the offense deep. With the new rule, there’s less incentive to do that – and thus more touchbacks.

Velus Jones Jr.’s biggest role on the team right now is as the kick return man, and prior to Sunday he hadn’t returned a single kick. Every single ball went over his head for a touchback. He was one of the most dangerous return men in the league last year. On Sunday, he told Shaw Local that during the first five weeks of the season, teams were simply not kicking it to him.

“We knew going into this game that they weren’t going to be able to do that playing in Chicago with the wind,” Jones said.

Jones returned three kicks and averaged 30 yards per return. He had a long of 37 yards.

He let another return bounce near the goal line before picking it up, then was tackled at about the 10-yard line. But the refs determined the ball had crossed the goal line untouched and it was thus ruled a touchback. Jones said he was well aware of the rule and picked the ball up only when the refs didn’t blow the play dead.

“I was just not trying to put us in a bad situation,” Jones said. “So let the ball touch and go in. I was looking at it, they didn’t blow it dead. So I could’ve took a knee on it but I was just trying to react fast.”

On offense, Jones had two carries for 15 yards in the game, plus one catch for five yards.