CHICAGO — Who’s playing quarterback doesn’t matter so much when you have the run game and defense the Chicago Bears do.
Playing the New York Jets helps, too.
With Caleb Williams still on the sidelines with a bad hamstring, the Bears got their second victory in six days on Sunday, Oct. 4, beating the Jets 23-12. While Tyson Bagent was OK in his first de facto start since 2023, going 25 of 34 for 268 yards, the credit for this one belongs to running back Kyle Monangai and the defense.
Monangai had 146 of the Bears’ 232 yards rushing and ran for both of Chicago’s touchdowns. The second-year running back also had 30 carries, his most since he was at Rutgers.
The defense, meanwhile, held the Jets to 157 yards. That’s yards total, not yards rushing or
yards receiving. Total. It also shut New York out on third down, not allowing the Jets to convert any of their seven opportunities, and limited them to less than 18 minutes of possession across the four quarters.
In the fourth quarter, the Jets had the ball for all of 45 seconds.
“You come off a high like that was (with) Monday Night Football, and it’s easy to drop off, especially against an opponent you don’t see a whole lot or know a whole lot about. And yet, these guys, they ended the week the right way,” Bears coach Ben Johnson said.
They don’t have much choice with Williams likely still a few weeks away from returning.
Johnson more than QB whisperer
No one will dispute the NFL is a quarterbacks league, and a large part of the reason the Bears hired Johnson was the belief he could get the best out of Williams, the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft. That’s proven to be the case, with Williams throwing for a Bears-record 3,942 yards last season and leading Chicago to its first playoff win since 2010.
But these last two games have shown there’s a lot more to Johnson than gimmicky play calls. He’s built a well-rounded team that can roll with the punches.
In his first start since 2023, Case Keenum outplayed Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles for that win on Monday Night Football. With D’Andre Swift off his game against New York — he got stuffed at the goal line twice on the first series of the game, then fumbled early in the third quarter — Monangai carried the load.
As for the defense, it allowed the Jets into the red zone twice. It sacked Geno Smith three times. It's allowed 28 points over the last three games, with all but two scores coming on field goals.
“You almost call them the no-name defense here at this point,” Johnson said. “I don’t know anybody’s super flashy, all over the place, yet they are playing really good football as a collective 11 on the field.
“All those guys, they just want to be sound,” Johnson added. “They want to know exactly what their assignment is and make sure they’re doing right by their buddy.”
A win is a win is a win
Now, no one is going to confuse the Jets with juggernauts. New York finally got a defensive interception when Minkah Fitzpatrick picked off Bagent in the second quarter, ending a 20 game-plus drought. But they should have had more, with three other would-be interceptions wiped out by penalties.
They finished with more penalties (12) than Smith had completions (eight).
"When it comes to the game I am very, very disappointed on a number of different levels," Jets coach Aaron Glenn said. "This was basically just not playing complementary football at its best."
The Bears don't need Bagent, or Keenum, to be an MVP. They just need whoever's at QB not to get in the way of the run game and the defense so the Bears still have something to play for when Williams comes back.
"All hands on deck," Bagent said. "It's a group effort to get these wins."
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bears latest win shows they have formula beyond Caleb Williams | Opinion
