The journeyman gets the keys

How Chicago got here

Caleb Williams is out with a hamstring injury expected to cost him three to four weeks. Tyson Bagent cleared the concussion protocol but got one day of practice this week. So the Bears turned to Case Keenum, 38, for his first regular-season start since December 2023.

Kickoff against Philadelphia at Soldier Field is 7:15 p.m. Central.

The long road

Keenum went undrafted out of Houston in 2012. Chicago is his eighth franchise, after the Texans, Rams, Vikings, Broncos, Washington, Browns and Bills.

His best-known moment came in Minnesota: the 61-yard touchdown to Stefon Diggs on January 14, 2018 that won an NFC Divisional game and became known as the Minneapolis Miracle.

Factor one: the head coach

Keenum is in Chicago because of Ben Johnson, and says so. “I’m the biggest Ben Johnson fan. I’m here right now because of him,” he said this week. Their first conversation was supposed to take 15 minutes; they talked for two and a half hours.

Keenum had been all but retired. “I found the love of football again working with him.” Johnson, for his part, has called practices and preseason games for him and describes him as “at the point of his career where he’s like another coach in a lot of ways.” A quarterback who thinks like the play-caller is the cheapest insurance a backup can offer.

Factor two: the backfield

Keenum does not have to carry the offense. D’Andre Swift (169 yards, three touchdowns) and Kyle Monangai (147 yards, one touchdown) have combined for 316 rushing yards in two games. Last season they were the only pair of NFL teammates who both ran for 750 or more.

Monangai missed Thursday’s practice with a knee injury, then practiced fully Friday and Saturday and carries no game designation. Swift is not on the final injury report. Game-day inactives were not yet published when this story went up. Both played; see the follow-up.

And the defensive coordinator he has already beaten

Philadelphia’s defense is run by Vic Fangio. Keenum is 3–0 against Fangio defenses: two wins with Minnesota in 2017 when Fangio ran Chicago’s defense, and one with Cleveland against Fangio’s Denver.

Where it started

Before the eight franchises, Keenum was a record-setting passer at Houston. Johnson’s own summary: “He’s a prolific college quarterback. He’s got numerous records that still stand.”