The Chicago Bears became only the third team in the modern NFL era to win three of their first four games of a season with three different quarterbacks. The accomplishment was cemented last Sunday when Tyson Bagent guided them to a 23-12 victory over the New York Jets. This came in the wake of Case Keenum doing the same the week prior against the Philadelphia Eagles. It is a tremendous accomplishment for a team that many experts predicted would regress after last season’s death-defying run to the playoffs.
Most of the credit for this success goes to head coach Ben Johnson. Not only has his play-calling kept the offense among the league’s elite, but his disciplined approach has the entire team executing at a high level. However, Keenum and Bagent wanted to make sure people knew that a silent hero was instrumental in their being so well prepared for those games. That is quarterbacks coach J.T. Barrett. He went above and beyond the call of duty to ensure the two had everything they needed. Keenum shared some fascinating details.
“We get texts like 11:30 at night with some of the game plan notes and stuff like when they finish up and then again at like 5:45 a.m. before I get up sometimes…
…He gets a lot of the heat that probably should be coming to us…J.T.’s able to disseminate a lot of that and bring us the coaching points from Ben through him to us in our own unique way. I think it has been tremendous.”
Bagent added even more.
“He’s sleeping in his cot in the building multiple days out of the week, you know, for us and for us to be able to put good stuff and play with rhythm and timing on Sunday. So I just think that those two things, and he’s a cool dude, man. I mean you run into some of these coaches, and they’re super squares, and you know, they don’t know how to have fun. …”
Tyson Bagent and Case Keenum reminded everyone it’s a team game.
Yes, Johnson is brilliant. He is already a top-5 head coach in the NFL. However, he is still just one man. A coach is only as good as the staff he assembles around himself. People weren’t sure what to expect from Barrett. All they knew was he’d been an excellent college quarterback at Ohio State and had served as Johnson’s assistant quarterbacks coach in Detroit. Nobody knew how he would respond to assuming one of the most important jobs on the entire staff. All things considered, Barrett has crushed it.
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He was a big part of helping Caleb Williams ascend last season, becoming a comeback king and setting the franchise record with 3,941 passing yards in a season. Now his efforts helped Tyson Bagent and Keenum both win their first starts in over 1,000 days. That is no small accomplishment. Barrett deserves all of the credit for putting in the extra hours and taking the heat from Johnson to make it happen. It’s easy to see why the quarterbacks have so much respect for him.
Barrett has a bright future ahead of him.
It is important to remember one thing. Barrett is only 31 years old. He retired from playing in 2022, which means he’s in his fourth year of coaching and already holds a prominent assistant job. Considering the success Declan Doyle is having in Baltimore as their new offensive coordinator, it feels like only a matter of time before teams come sniffing around the Bears’ staff for more potential gems. Barrett will be high on that list given his obvious knowledge of the quarterback position.
No doubt Bagent and Keenum hope he can stick around for as long as possible. He is clearly valued for the effort he puts in to get his guys ready. That is all you can ask of a coach. It’s further credit to Johnson for recognizing Barrett’s skill and making sure he was one of the few guys he brought over from Detroit. His value figures to only keep rising if Bagent delivers another win on Sunday in Green Bay.
