Chicago Bears Undrafted Rookie Tyson Bagent Leads Dominant Victory in First Start — Who Is He?

The Chicago Bears won just their second game of the year with a 30-12 win over the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday. Chicago scored the most points they had all season at home, and they did it with an undrafted rookie at quarterback.

Tyson Bagent made his first career start in the win for Chicago, throwing for 162 yards and a touchdown, completing 21 of 29 passes. The 23-year-old went undrafted out of Division II Shepherd University this year.

Bagent came into the Bears' 19-13 loss to the Minnesota Vikings last week after starter Justin Fields was ruled out with a thumb injury. When Fields was ruled out again against the Raiders, Bagent was named the starter. Bagent began the season as the third-string quarterback behind veteran Nathan Peterman, but was promoted to the backup role after Week 4.

Bagent's big day against the Raiders may have been surprising, considering he comes from the Division II ranks and was thrust into a starting role against NFL competition. But Bagent is not foreign to success at quarterback. In fact, he was historically good in college.

After a decorated four-year career at Shepard, Bagent left college as the NCAA's All-Time career touchdown passes leader with 159. He holds over 20 school records, including most touchdowns responsible for in a single game (7), most games with 300+ passing yards in a single season (11), most passing yards in a single season (5,000) and most touchdown passes in a career (159).

Bagent comes from a family of arm talent. His father, Travis Bagent, who also went to Shepard, is a 17-time champion professional arm wrestler, according to ESPN.

Because of his father's success, Tyson believed he would have a career as a successful athlete.

"Oddly I always thought it was gonna happen," Bagent said of having an athletic career prior to the draft in April, per ESPN. "I think really me and my dad were the only ones who thought this was gonna happen. After that, it was just figuring out how I could outwork everybody that maybe had more things than I did."

But after going undrafted, Bagent wasn't even sure if he would be on an NFL roster during the preseason. He was considered a long-shot to make it past the team's final cuts, as some teams don't even carry three quarterbacks. Still, he never lost belief his opportunity would come.

“I think my life has been planned out for me ahead of time,” Bagent said Wednesday during an interview with 670 The Score in Chicago. “I think everything that has happened and will happen was already set in stone to happen. And I think coming from where I come from, I’ve pretty much beat every odd that there was for me. So, I’ve got nothing to lose”

Despite having just one start under his belt, Bagent is now only five wins shy of Fields. The Bears drafted Fields with the 11th overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft out of Ohio State. Fields is only 6-25 as a starter for Chicago dating back to his rookie year in 2021.