{"id":871385,"date":"2026-10-05T08:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T08:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/871385\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T08:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T08:40:10","slug":"ben-johnsons-decision-to-start-case-keenum-was-a-reaction-to-the-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/871385\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Johnson&#8217;s decision to start Case Keenum was a reaction to the media"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Bears coach Ben Johnson can\u2019t help himself. And I love it.<\/p>\n<p>After not naming a starting quarterback for Week 4 against the Jets \u2014 and given that numerous reports indicated Tyson Bagent would start \u2014 Johnson decided to have <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcsports.com\/nfl\/profootballtalk\/rumor-mill\/news\/tyson-bagent-and-case-keenum-started-for-the-bears\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">both Bagent and Case Keenum on the field<\/a> for the first play from scrimmage.<\/p>\n<p>It meant that Keenum was technically a starter, even though it was a Bagent game.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/CalebFC18\/status\/2106843519130513564?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">I got all these memos<\/a> saying that Tyson was starting before I had ever made an announcement, so I now want to get Case out there the first time,\u201d Johnson told reporters after the 23-12 win. \u201cIt was like a ceremonial first pitch out there, hand off the torch.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson was reminded that the move gave Keenum the win.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGood for him,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI think the team gets credited for the win.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s right. It is all about the team. The decision to play games with the starting lineup as a reaction to the fact that he failed to keep the starter\u2019s identity a secret has nothing to do with the team\u2019s objectives.<\/p>\n<p>Again, I like the cheekiness. It\u2019s part of who he is. As long as it never gets in the way of winning a game, it\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n<p>As to whether Keenum got the win, it\u2019s possible that Bagent did, too. Even though Bagent lined up as a receiver, the official game book shows two starting quarterbacks for the Bears.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bears coach Ben Johnson can\u2019t help himself. And I love it. After not naming a starting quarterback for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":871386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":["post-871385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/871386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}