Caleb Williams to miss Bears' Week 5 rivalry game against Packers, Tyson Bagent set for second start

The Bears are unbeaten without Williams in the starting lineup

Oct 5, 2026 at 1:48 pm ET • 2 min read

The Chicago Bears will be without quarterback Caleb Williams for at least one more game. Coach Ben Johnson said Monday on ESPN Chicago that Tyson Bagent "will be the guy" for the Week 5 rivalry game against the Green Bay Packers, which sets him up for his second consecutive start after he guided the Bears to a 23-12 win over the New York Jets on Sunday.

Williams remains on the mend from a hamstring strain and is poised to miss his third consecutive game. He suffered that injury in the Week 2 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, and in his absence, both Bagent and third-string quarterback Case Keenum stepped up to keep the offense rolling. They orchestrated plenty of success in back-to-back victories.

Bagent would have been in line to start against the Philadelphia Eagles in the first Williams-less game, but he spent most of Week 3 in the NFL's concussion protocol, which prompted Johnson to turn to Keenum. Now that Bagent is cleared, though, this is his offense until Williams returns. Chicago signed him to a two-year, $10 million contract extension in the offseason and regards him as a premier backup, so it was unsurprising that Johnson called his name even though Keenum was highly effective starting two games ago.

Bagent completed 25 of 34 passes against the Jets and amassed 268 yards through the air. He did not account for either of the Bears' touchdowns, though, and he threw one interception. Running back Kyle Monangai did the majority of the scoring with his two trips to the end zone on the ground.

"Some good and some that I think he wants back," Johnson said of Bagent's first start of 2026. "It's a little bit of a mixed bag. The best part is how he controlled the operation. I thought we had good tempo in and out of the huddle. I thought our guys played with a lot of confidence because of how he conducted himself. He found completions. I thought he played an efficient football game."

The hamstring strain Williams sustained in the Week 2 loss reportedly comes with a three-to-four-week recovery timeline, so even though the Bears initially labeled him as "week to week," there was always a real chance he would be unavailable for the NFC North battle against the Packers.

If Williams misses the full four weeks, he will also sit against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 6. That would set him up for a potential prime-time return against the New England Patriots on the Week 7 edition of "Thursday Night Football."