The Chicago Bears received a strong performance from one of their veteran quarterbacks on Thursday, and some are wondering who will win Chicago's QB2 role.
Most of the excitement for the Bears' upcoming 2024 campaign stems from Chicago drafting stud quarterback Caleb Williams with the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. Everyone associated with the Bears expects Williams to step in and make an impact from day one.
Chicago made its preseason debut Thursday night in the Hall of Fame game versus the Houston Texans, but Williams did not take the field for any snaps.
Quarterback play for the Bears was nonetheless excellent, as veteran Brett Rypien completed 11 of 15 passes for 166 yards and three touchdowns.
It's difficult not to get carried away with performances like Rypien's, as fans have been starved for football for months. Rypien looked like a starting quarterback in the National Football League as he zipped passes across the field with pinpoint accuracy. Ultimately, however, this was just a preseason game, and Rypien wasn't going up against a starting-level defense.
Still, the performance was not altogether meaningless, especially for Rypien himself. After the game, the NFL journeyman Rypien expressed the importance of his positive outing. “This one meant a lot for me tonight,” Rypien said, per Patrick K. Flowers of Bleacher Nation. “Sitting on a year of my last start in Green Bay — (it) didn’t go the way I wanted it to. I had a bad taste in my mouth the entire offseason. I took the approach that I didn’t really know how this year was going to look ... But I just kept working hard every single day and said, ‘Just going to do what I can and know how I play my best football and try to get back to that.’ So when you put in the work, and it shows, it feels good.”
The 28-year-old Rypien -- who's now played for five NFL franchises since going undrafted out of Boise State in 2019 -- was widely expected to compete for Chicago's third-string quarterback role heading into camp, with Tyson Bagent all but locked in as the backup behind Williams.
After Rypien's stellar performance on Thursday, however, some pundits -- Flowers included -- are giving credence to the possibility that Rypien will back up Williams.
Flowers posted a picture of Rypien to X with the caption, "QB2".
Could the Bears have a backup quarterback controversy on their hands?
More NFL: Bears surprising trade could see them part ways with experienced lineman
