Bears coach Ben Johnson told reporters Monday that quarterback Caleb Williams is week-to-week with a right hamstring injury he sustained midway through the fourth quarter of Sunday's 9-3 loss to the Vikings at Soldier Field.
"We'll see where he's at as the week progresses and how long that means," Johnson said, "but it was somewhat encouraging, the report that we got, so I'll leave it there."
Williams was injured when he scrambled around left end on a first-and-goal play from the 6 with the Bears trailing 6-3. The outing snapped his Bears record of eight straight games with at least two touchdown passes.
Johnson said that he doesn't believe that Williams will practice this week but did not rule him out from starting against the Eagles next Monday night at Soldier Field.
"He's right now working through every avenue that he's got available to get back on track here," Johnson said. "We'll see what that looks like. Here's what I know: this guy's a little bit different than the average human being. I said that last night. I'll double down on that. He gets back— he has in the past —a lot faster than what people can anticipate. I'm not putting a timeline on this. We're going to say week-to-week. He's going to attack this with everything that he knows. He's got a great team around him, both in this building and outside this building, and we'll see where it goes from there."
Williams has not missed a game since being selected by the Bears with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 draft out of USC. He became the franchise's first quarterback to start every game in back-to-back seasons since the NFL expanded to a 16-game schedule in 1978. The previous two Bears quarterbacks to accomplish that feat were Bob Avellini (1976-77) and Bill Wade (1962-63).
Williams was replaced by Tyson Bagent, who completed 5 of 9 passes for 54 yards and a 73.4 passer rating. If Williams can't play against the Eagles, Johnson is confident Bagent can step into the starting role.
"I would be a lot more concerned if I didn't have a year-and-a-half under our belts together now, and so I've seen him every single day in practice," Johnson said. "We've had a lot of reps during the course of training camp and in the preseason. So, if it goes that route, I feel strongly about what he's capable of, and our team does too. They know he's a darn good football player. He's won games in the past. Him and Case [Keenum] both have won games in this league. There's a lot of confidence that both of those guys can get the job done if it comes to it."
With Williams starting every game since joining the Bears, Bagent has attempted only six regular-season passes since the start of the 2024 season. But he has excelled in preseason action, posting passing ratings of 119.9 in 2024, 106.6 in 2025 and 119.3 in 2026. In addition, Bagent showed promise as an undrafted rookie from Division II Shepherd University in 2023, appearing in five games and winning two of four starts, passing for 859 yards and three TDs.
"He's got full confidence in himself," right guard Jonah Jackson said of Bagent. "We've got full confidence in him. We know he can dink-and-dunk the ball around and sling it and also get after it with his feet."
