Chicago Bears QB Tyson Bagent blames turnovers on himself in weird loss to New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS – How does one process a game when the offense turned the ball over five times, yet the final score shows a seven-point difference?

The Bears’ loss to the New Orleans Saints, 24-17, on Sunday at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans was one of the weirder Bears contests in recent memory. The Bears led this game, 14-7, in the first half and the offense was rolling with backup quarterback Tyson Bagent.

Then the turnovers came – and kept coming.

Bagent threw three interceptions and fumbled once. Receiver DJ Moore dropped a fumble that the Saints picked up. Still, the Bears had the ball in their possession, trailing only seven points, with 2:26 remaining in the game.

“Hard to win an NFL football game like that,” tight end Cole Kmet said of the turnovers.

Bagent, making his third start of the season, pinned the blame on himself. He has said for several weeks now that the No. 1 thing he has to improve on is ball security. Sunday’s game didn’t help that cause.

Still, Bagent looked mostly rock solid in the first half. He had just one turnover in the first half, an interception near midfield. He threw two touchdown passes, both to Kmet, and led the offense on a pair of 75-yard scoring drives.

Bagent was hard on himself after the game, but Kmet was adamant that Bagent didn’t actually play a bad game – despite what the stat line might indicate.

“I really did think he played great and I think the film will show that,” Kmet said. “I think we’ve got to be better as a skill group. Maybe he makes the wrong decision, but we’ve got to be better in terms of coming back to the football, breaking it up.

“Some of those throws, he’s going to the right guy, we just have to be better in the routes.”

On the first interception, for instance, Kmet said he could’ve done a better job coming back to the football. Bagent threw a ball intended for Kmet. The tight end said the original play was bottled up and he went into scramble mode.

Saints cornerback Paulson Adebo jumped in front of Kmet and took the football away.

Interestingly, receiver Tyler Scott had similar thoughts on Bagent’s third and final interception. This one came in the fourth quarter, with the Bears trailing by a touchdown.

That time, the throw was slightly off target – according to both Scott and Bagent – but Scott said he should’ve been able to knock it down. Instead, safety Marcus Maye read the play right the whole way and snagged the ball in front of Scott.

“The DB just made a great play on the ball, honestly,” Scott said. “I have to see the film to see exactly where he was, what the ball placement was, but you can’t give up interceptions, even if the ball placement isn’t where it needs to be, I’ve got to be able to at least get a hand out and hit it.”

Thanks to the turnovers, the Saints began all five of their fourth-quarter possessions in Bears’ territory. Somehow, the Bears defense allowed only seven points on those five possessions (the clock ran out on the fifth one).

The Bears defense came up with a stop on a fourth-and-inches play, and Saints kicker Blake Grupe missed a field goal.

“We made stops on defense,” head coach Matt Eberflus said. “We had time. We still had time and the guys were fighting and battling. I really believe that we had a chance there.”

We made stops on defense. We had time. We still had time and the guys were fighting and battling. I really believe that we had a chance there.”

—  Matt Eberflus, Bears head coach

The Bears finished with 368 yards of offense, compared to New Orleans’ 301 total yards. Bagent finished his afternoon 18-for-30 passing for 220 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. He also totaled 70 rushing yards.

“Our team played extremely well, which is why it’s so embarrassing because, one score game, lose the turnover battle by that amount – it’s embarrassing,” Bagent said. “It’s part of the game and I’m just looking forward to building and learning from this experience.”

Where things go from here for Bagent is anybody’s guess. Justin Fields returned to practice on Friday, but is facing a quick turnaround this week. The Bears play the Carolina Panthers on Thursday night at Soldier Field. They have two days of walkthroughs scheduled and only one real practice ahead of the game.

It seems possible that Bagent could still have one more shot to start before Fields returns, but the Bears haven’t announced a starter yet.

“I think there’s only one way to [bounce back], and it’s just to continue to do what I’ve been doing preparation-wise,” Bagent said. “Do a better job taking care of the football.”