INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Tyson Bagent said he had a cannon. On the first play against the Chargers — who fire blanks from a wheeled cannon every time they score — he showed it off.
One week after the Bears’ undrafted rookie quarterback dinked-and-dunked them to a win against the Raiders — he never threw farther downfield than 15 yards — Bagent hit receiver Darnell Mooney down the right sideline for a 41-yard gain to start Sunday night’s game. It could have been a touchdown, too — Mooney was whistled down despite appearing to not be touched by a defender while on the ground.
It looked like the Bagent magic — complete with his arm wrestler father cheering him while wearing gear from his alma mater, Div. II Shepherd University — had traveled to prime time.
Then it fizzled. With Justin Fields watching while wearing a brace on his once-dislocated right thumb, the Bears had all the spark of a wet birthday candle.
The Bears lost 30-13 at SoFi Stadium in a game that never felt that close.
Sunday night was sobering — for Bagent, a porous Bears defense and a coaching staff that was riding a rare week of momentum after their second win of the season.
Bagent made a few big-league throws and didn’t look overwhelmed. A week ago, in his first career start, that was considered a rousing success worthy of national attention.
Sunday night, it was simply not enough to carry the Bears against a Chargers team that entered the game with two wins and in last place in the AFC West.
Bagent went 25-for-37 for 232 yards, two interceptions and a passer rating of 62. He led the 2-6 Bears to two scoring drives — the second, which ended in a 1-yard quarterback sneak, came with the Bears down by 23 with less than three minutes to play.
Take out the kneeldown at the end of the first half, and four of the Bears’ nine drives ended in four plays or less. The Chargers, to the contrary, scored on each of their first five possessions — three touchdowns and two field goals.
This wasn’t merely a case of the expectations for Bagent being ratcheted up one week after beating the Raiders. It was a realization that the Bears don’t have a roster that can win many games — if any — with a quarterback simply managing the game. Fields, for all his flaws, is a playmaker — with his legs and his right arm, in that order — when things are going well. Bagent wasn’t on Sunday.
Perhaps it was never fair to expect Bagent to elevate the offense or a team that had the worst record in the NFL last year and showed only glimpses of competent play long before Fields was hurt against the Vikings. Bears fans who had spent the last seven days dreaming of that very scenario, though, were hit in the face with reality. The Bears were back to being bad — and boring.
After the deep ball to Mooney, Bagent handed off twice and lost three yards before former Bear Khalil Mack — a symbol of the team’s rebuild — sacked Bagent. The Chargers forced a punt, marched 92 yards to score and never relinquished the lead.
One week after looking nearly flawless in a conservative gameplan against the Raiders and their own backup quarterback, Bagent made mistakes. On third-and-8 two minutes into the second quarter, he threw a pass straight to Chargers quarterback Ja’Sir Taylor. Receivers DJ Moore and Mooney had miscommunicated on their route, and he left the throw to Moore well short.
He threw a fourth-and-3 interception to Derwin Jones in the fourth quarter. On another fourth down, he threw an interception that was, after replay, changed to an incompletion.
Bagent needed help from his offensive teammates, and he never got it. In the second quarter, wide receiver Velus Jones was wide open in the end zone, slipped, fell on his backside and, while in a sitting position, had Bagent’s pass hit him in both hands. He dropped it. On fourth-and-1 in the third quarter, Roschon Johnson was stopped for no gain.
All those mistakes combined to form another humbling loss in a season full of them. The Bears figure to struggle again next week against the Saints, who scored 38 points in a win Sunday.
Whether Bagent gets another chance to start that game will have to wait until Monday, when the Bears are expected to give another update about Fields’ recovery.
Bears fans who’d wondered whether the team would be better off with Fields on the sideline, though, probably feel differently after the Chargers game than they did before it.