Case Keenum beat the Eagles. The Eagles are the story.
Case Keenum hadn't started an NFL game since 2023. Monday night he made the Philadelphia Eagles look like the team that had to dig a quarterback out of the past.
Chicago beat Philadelphia 27-7 on Monday Night Football, moving the Bears to 2-1 and handing the Eagles their first loss of the season. Keenum, the third-stringer, threw two touchdown passes and ran for a third in his first start in three years. He got the nod because Caleb Williams is recovering from a Grade 2 hamstring strain, with Tyson Bagent backing up after clearing concussion protocol.
The easy story is Keenum turning back the clock. Here's the one the scoreboard actually tells.
Philadelphia lost this on offense. Jalen Hurts went 16-of-25 for 153 yards with no passing touchdowns and an interception, a 64.2 passer rating and a 41.2 QBR. That's 6.1 yards per attempt against a defense that was supposed to be the get-right opponent. Saquon Barkley carried 15 times for 82 yards and never scored, and his one catch lost two yards. DeVonta Smith's six grabs for 65 were the only functional part of the passing game.
Three Eagles defenders finished with nine tackles apiece: Zack Baun, Andrew Mukuba and Jihaad Campbell. That's what a stat sheet looks like when a defense can't get off the field.
So this wasn't a Chicago arrival. It was a good team playing badly enough that a 38-year-old journeyman could beat it. Credit Keenum. Two passing scores plus a rushing score is a real night's work, and he earned the attention he'll get all week. But the Bears' ceiling does not move because Hurts had his worst night of the young season.
The unromantic part: Williams gets the job back the moment the hamstring lets him. One win by a third-stringer doesn't unseat a franchise quarterback, and treating it as a controversy says more about how starved Chicago is for good news than about the depth chart.
What I'd bet on: if Williams can't go in Week 4, Keenum starts again, and the questions worth asking are in Philadelphia. Another 64.2 rating from Hurts and they get a lot louder than anything happening in Chicago.
