Skip to main content
Bear Digest

Tyson Bagent's Concussion Apparently Occurred Well Before Final Play

Bears coach Ben Johnson shot down the speculation that a body slam by Will Turner caused Tyson Bagent's concussion but when it actually occurred might be more disturbing.
Gene Chamberlain|
This play when Will Turner sacked Tyson Bagent with a questionable body slam was incorrectly assumed to have caused a concussion. Bears coach Ben Johnson suspected it occurred on an earlier play.
This play when Will Turner sacked Tyson Bagent with a questionable body slam was incorrectly assumed to have caused a concussion. Bears coach Ben Johnson suspected it occurred on an earlier play. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

In this story:

Chicago Bears

The big mystery over when Bears quarterback Tyson Bagent was injured has been cleared up and it's not on the gruesome play everyone seemed to think.

It was on another gruesome play.

The entire situation leads to questions about the Bears' or the league's ability to detect concussions, not to mention wondering what officials consider roughing the passer these days.

Ben Johnson said he found out about the concussion much later and thought it occurred at a different time than the assumptions said.

“I don't know for certain," Johnson said. "If I was guessing it was that first third down.”

The public's guessing on social media had said it occurred when Will Turner fought off block attempts by Bears tight end Colston Loveland on the game's final play. Basically, Turner reached out and ripped over Bagent in a body slam. It looked like pro wrestling, and there are still questions among Bears fans whether this was even a legal play.

However that wasn't the first third down that Johnson was talking about. The body slam was a fourth-down play to end the game.

The first third down play Johnson mentioned came on Bagent's first series, two plays after Caleb Williams suffered a hamstring injury. After completing a 1-yard pass to D'Andre Swift, Bagent tried to throw on third-and-goal from the 5 for Swift.

The Vikings had Swift covered and the ball was incomplete. After the throw, Vikings linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel hit Bagent, rather high, and knocked him to the turf. This was the play Johnson felt caused the injury.

The Bears had an eight-play drive to Minnesota's 12-yard line on their final possession and it ended with the body-slam sack. This means that after the concussion Bagent went 4-for-7 for 53 yards. It included completions of 21 yards to Rome Odunze and 18 yards to Luther Burden.

The Bears didn't see the concussion at the time and the NFL monitors for concussions using on-field spotters, specialized sensors and sideline video. They'll have players evaluated if they think there is a concussion. Both the Bears and league need to be better with this situation if Bagent was playing after the concussion.


If Bagent had to come out then, the Bears would have had to activate their inactive emergency quarterback, Case Keenum. And now Keenum will be starting.

The hits affecting two QBs near or on the head are certain to be something the NFL looks at when fines are announced this week. Also on that same docket will be the helmet-to-helmet hit Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson made knocking off Aaron Jones' helmet, and the out-of-bounds hit on Bears punt returner Kalif Raymond as he stood on the sideline after returning a punt.

The rematch on the final day of the season should be worth watching, even if it turns out to be meaningless like so many season finales can be.

Sign Up For the Bears Daily Digest - OnSI’s Free Chicago Bears Newsletter

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.

Home/News