Daylight saving time ends on Nov. 1. Case Keenum couldn’t wait and turned his clock back on Monday night.
The Chicago Bears’ 38-year-old backup backup quarterback shined in his first start since Christmas Eve 2023.
Keenum completed 24 of 34 passes for 247 yards and two touchdowns and also ran for a score in a decisive 27-7 defeat of the visiting and favored Philadelphia Eagles.
With Caleb Williams (hamstring) injured and QB2 Tyson Bagent returning from a concussion, Keenum rose to the challenge. He connected with seven different receivers, was never sacked and did not turn the ball over in the wire-to-wire win in prime time.
It was his 67th career start but the first regular-season appearance with the Bears for the journeyman, who has been around the league long enough to count the St. Louis Rams (2015) and Washington Redskins (2019) among his former employers.
Undrafted in 2012 after a record-setting career at the University of Houston, Keenum’s NFL odyssey makes the quest in Matt Damon’s summer blockbuster look like a three-day weekend.
He has also suited up for the Houston Texans (2013-14, 2023-24), Los Angeles Rams (2016), Minnesota Vikings (2017), Denver Broncos (2018), Cleveland Browns (2020-21) and Buffalo Bills (2022). He was Chicago’s emergency third-string QB last season.
Monday marked the first time Keenum passed for 200-plus yards and multiple TDs since Week 3 of the 2019 season with Washington — against the Bears.
Keenum’s touchdown tosses were a delightful mixed bag: an 8-yard shovel pass to Luther Burden III in the first quarter and a 41-yard strike to Kalif Raymond in the third quarter. Rome Odunze let a third TD slip through his fingertips.
Keenum’s 1-yard rushing touchdown to give Chicago a 20-point lead midway through the fourth quarter was his first scoring run since Week 16 in 2019.
Keenum outplayed Jalen Hurts and made the Eagles look more lost than they did running around in the “Fog Bowl,” when Mike Ditka’s Bears beat Philly in a playoff game on New Year’s Eve in 1988 at misty Soldier Field.
Monday’s triumph wasn’t the finest moment of Keenum’s NFL career, ranked behind the “Minneapolis Miracle” when he threw the 61-yard touchdown pass to a slippery Stefon Diggs on the final play in the Vikings’ divisional playoff stunner against the Saints.
But it had to be the most satisfying.
With Williams’ hamstring injury reportedly expected to keep him out for three to four weeks, Bears head coach Ben Johnson will have a decision to make ahead of Sunday’s game against the New York Jets.
It should be a snap decision.
Yes, the Bears are paying Bagent $5 million to be the backup, yet there’s simply no way Johnson can take the ball out of Keenum’s wrinkled but capable hands at this point.
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