Bears quarterback Tyson Bagent will start his first rivalry game Sunday in Green Bay since 2022 when he led Shepherd University to a 30-13 road win over Shippensburg.

With an attendance of 876 fans at that Division II game, the atmosphere at Lambeau Field promises to be much more raucous. Regardless, the fourth-year pro understands that rivalry games are just plain different—no matter the size of the crowd.

"I think you go into each week the exact same as Wednesday, Thursday, Friday getting the exact plan down, being locked in, taking it extremely serious," Bagent said. "But to say this is just like any game just wouldn't be true. This is one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports. It's easy for the fans to get up for, easy for us to get up for, so it will certainly be a different feel out there.

"That's why it's so important that we put in the amount of work that we need to this week, get acclimated in a smart way but also in a hurry so we can have our best foot forward going into this weekend."

Set to make his second straight start in place of the injured Caleb Williams, Bagent will look to build on his performance in last Sunday's 23-12 win over the Jets when he completed 25 of 34 passes for 268 yards. Despite starting his first regular-season game since 2023, he operated the offense like a seasoned veteran. In the first quarter, Bagent changed two plays at the line of scrimmage that resulted in pass plays of 21 yards to Rome Odunze and 22 yards to Luther Burden III.

"That's one of his strengths," said coach Ben Johnson. "He's smart. If we're in a perfect play mentality, he can certainly handle whatever look we're trying to get to. I thought he did a great job that first game. He's been doing that for the last year-and-a-half, so it's a big part of what we do."

"There's a training camp feel to it," Bagent said. "We're pretty fresh out of that. I was able to bank a lot or reps with a lot of things that we're still doing and then another piece of that is really just going into the game with all of the answers. So, it's really not anything superhero-wise on my end; just really playing the play how the coaches have taught it and giving my guys a chance, and you see when we're able to do that on time good things happen."

Bagent completed passes of 37, 26 and 22 yards, but coach Johnson told reporters that he felt there were "some opportunities for some big plays down the field that he didn't pull the trigger on."

"There's a handful of them," Bagent said. "When the moments present themselves, I obviously have got to take it. I was a little quick to get down to the checkdown, but that can't be the case going forward. I've got to be better in that instance, especially going into this week."

The most glaring example came in the third quarter when Bagent completed a 6-yard pass to tight end Cole Kmet while Burden III was open about 15 yards farther downfield.

"That was certainly one," Bagent said. "That really sticks out egregiously is the one to Luther crossing the middle."

Bagent believes that the key to being more aggressive downfield "just comes down to trusting my feet, trusting the timing within each play, just having no hesitation going out there, just continuing to play the best way I know how to."