NFL results, Chicago wins on Thursday Night

The son of the arm wrestling champion, the freshman quarterback never chosen in the draft, wins the duel and match against the quarterback who was the first overall pick in the 2023 draft. Incredible, but true. The Chicago Bears won Thursday Night which opens the tenth NFL day by defeating the Carolina Panthers 16-13 thanks to a good defensive performance and the solid game of Tyson Bagent, a quarterback who played college in Division II in West Virginia and who did not he does who knows what, but certainly better than Bryce Young, the celebrated equal role from Alabama University who continues to disappoint beyond imagination. Chicago wins twice: it has the next first-round pick of the draft from Carolina who now, with a 1-8 record, the worst in the league, could serve the Bears with their first call of 2024. These are the waste, the additional cost of the completed trade between the two franchises for last season’s No. 1 pick, which later became Young. There are only 9 games, it’s too early to make definitive judgments, but for now the winner and the loser, well beyond the result on the pitch, are very clear.

Bagent fairy tale

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The blond 23-year-old played at university at Shepherd, an unknown university in West Virginia for which he was the best player in Division II, the American oval ball series B. No one had made it to the draft, but he first managed to make the team in Chicago and then, thanks to Justin Fields’ injury, ready to return from the next game, he even became the starter. This was his fourth game: 2-2 record. Not bad considering the Bears were 1-5 with the much-hyped but ineffective Fields behind center. Against the Panthers, Bagent didn’t force anything, he managed the attack and game with maturity and completed passes when needed most, at the end of the first and second half. His father, a champion as an arm wrestler, so they say in America, in short of arm wrestling, was cheering in the stands at Soldier Field. His boyfriend also has a pretty good arm, but above all he shows a character worthy of applause. He can be in the NFL, even against all odds.

Nightmare Young

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Despite his fabulous collegiate pedigree (he won the Heisman Trophy and the Crimson Tide’s national title for Alabama), he doesn’t look like an NFL quarterback today. He plays only because you can’t put an investment of this kind on the bench, but he even makes the old “accountant” Dalton regret his reserve. He throws for just 185 yards, he risks an interception several times, under pressure he doesn’t make a single reading of the game. Imprecise and disoriented. He certainly has little talent around him and it’s too early for a definitive rejection, but his first half of the season has certainly been indecent. Against all expectations: he was the first choice of many, not just the Panthers. Yet the 22-year-old rookie seems even smaller than the modest stature for the position, he appears very small in the middle of the gridiron.

The match

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Smith-Marsette’s 79-yard punt return gave the only touchdown of the first half, closing the Panthers 10-9 lead. Three kicks scored for Cairo Santos, the home team’s kicker, one for Eddy Pineiro, the guest’s kicker. Young with just 63 yards throwing. Tyson Bagent doubled, 127. D’Onte Foreman, Bears running back, found the end zone running for 4 yards and thus scored the only touchdown of the game for an attack, at the beginning of the second half. Overtaking: 16-10 Chicago. Then 16-13. Montez Sweat, mid-season reinforcement from Washington, catches quarterback, leads the charge of the Bears’ pass rush, which produces 3 sacks for Young, who is not very comfortable even in terms of mobility. Carolina still has a chance for external success: it closes on fourth down twice in its last offensive drive. But on the occasion of a further 4th down, with 10 yards to gain, not trusting Young, he opts for a complicated kick from 59 yards. Short. Shocking decision by Coach Reich who did all sorts of things between Indianapolis and Carolina. Bagent then brings down the shutter with a completed throw to Mooney and becomes a hero for a day, on live national TV across America. He takes the scene coming from nowhere, against all odds, his story is a fairy tale from a Hollywood film.