- Chicago Bears coach Ben Johnson will start Case Keenum at quarterback Monday night instead of a healthy Tyson Bagent.
- Caleb Williams is out with a Grade 2 hamstring strain that has the starter week-to-week rather than on a set return date.
- Philadelphia’s moneyline dipped to -180 when Bagent returned to practice and has climbed back to -210 with Keenum starting.
- The Eagles are -3.5-point favorites and the total for Monday’s game at Soldier Field sits at 41.5.
CHICAGO – The Philadelphia Eagles are -210 favorites over the Chicago Bears for Monday Night Football, a price that has climbed from -180 since Chicago ruled out starting quarterback Caleb Williams and settled on 38-year-old Case Keenum over a healthy Tyson Bagent.
Why The Line Moved
Philadelphia was priced as high as -240 midweek, when Keenum was the only healthy quarterback on Chicago’s roster, then fell to -180 after Bagent returned to practice. It has climbed back to -210 since, with the last tick coming from -200 after word that Johnson would start Keenum anyway.
The move from -180 to -210 takes the price from one implying about 64% to one implying just under 68%, and it reads as the NFL betting market pulling back most of the discount it had given Chicago for a healthy Bagent.
The spread followed the same path, reaching 5 points midweek before settling at Philadelphia -3.5 once Bagent was back, where it has held. The total sat at 41 for most of the week and is 41.5 now, consistent with a Bears offense breaking in a passer who has not started an NFL game since 2023.
Bears Bypass A Healthy Bagent
Williams had not missed a game since the Bears drafted him No. 1 overall in 2024, but the team has ruled him out for Monday with a hamstring strain suffered midway through the fourth quarter of the Sept. 20 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
NFL Network has reported the strain is a Grade 2, an injury that typically costs a player about a month, though Chicago has not set a firm timetable. Johnson has declined to commit to one either, telling the Chicago Sun-Times, “I’m not putting a timeline on this. We’re going to say week-to-week.”
The start would normally fall to Bagent, who relieved Williams against Minnesota, but he suffered a concussion in that game and missed Wednesday’s and Friday’s practices. Bagent cleared the protocol Sunday, yet Johnson is going with Keenum, who has not started a regular-season game since 2023, the Sun-Times reported. The paper also reported that Miller Moss, a quarterback on Chicago’s practice squad, is expected to join the 53-man roster Monday so a third passer is available in an emergency.
The Matchup
Philadelphia is 2-0 to open the season; Chicago is 1-1. At -3.5, Chicago covers by losing by three points or fewer or winning outright, a tall order for a team breaking in a new starter on Monday Night Football. The number on legal sports betting boards prices a drop-off at quarterback rather than a blowout, and a total near 42 says neither side is expected to run up the score.
Williams’ next step is returning to practice, and Chicago has given no target date for when that happens.
