Case Keenum spent nearly three years waiting for another shot in a regular-season NFL game. On Monday night, he needed just one drive to make it clear he still had plenty left.
With Caleb Williams sidelined by a hamstring injury, the 38-year-old Keenum stepped in and led the Chicago Bears to a 27-7 win over the Philadelphia Eagles. He threw two touchdowns, ran for another and avoided an interception, then celebrated on the field with his children in a scene the stat sheet could never fully explain.
The performance was the kind of reminder only a veteran like Keenum can deliver. He has been around long enough to have multiple chapters in one career, and this one came with a prime-time spotlight.
Keenum wasted no time getting comfortable. Chicago opened the game with a 66-yard drive in 11 plays, and he completed five of six passes on the march. The first score came on an 8-yard shovel pass to Luther Burden III, setting the tone for a night in which Philadelphia never got in front.
By the end, Keenum had gone 24 of 34 for 247 yards, two touchdowns and a 110.8 passer rating. It was a clean, efficient night from a quarterback who had not taken regular-season snaps since December 2023, when he last appeared for the Houston Texans.
That gap makes Monday stand out even more. Keenum spent 2024 on injured reserve and was mostly Chicago’s emergency third quarterback in 2025. Then the injury situation shifted, Tyson Bagent did not clear concussion protocol until Sunday, and the third quarterback on the depth chart suddenly became the centerpiece of a win on Monday night.
Keenum said last week that he had been prepared to retire before a conversation with Bears coach Ben Johnson convinced him to come to Chicago in 2025. Instead of winding things down, he found himself in the middle of one more memorable NFL moment.
That’s been the story of his career more than once. The Texans signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2012 after a record-setting run at Houston, where he threw for 19,217 yards and 155 touchdowns.
Those numbers still stand as NCAA records for the school. Houston also says Keenum is the only Division I player to throw for at least 5,000 yards in three seasons, and the university retired No. 7 in honor of Keenum and David Klingler.
Monday was his 67th NFL start, and he looked like a quarterback who knew exactly how to handle the moment. Press Taylor said Keenum’s time in the league has shaped him, and that showed up in little ways, too. On a fourth-and-2 in the fourth quarter, Keenum drew an Eagles defender offside to extend the drive that eventually ended with his rushing touchdown.
That score came on a 1-yard sneak with 7:19 left, Keenum’s first rushing touchdown since 2019. For a 38-year-old quarterback making his first start since 2023, it was a sharp little exclamation point.
He has had plenty of memorable moments before this one. In January 2018, Keenum hit Stefon Diggs for a 61-yard touchdown as time expired to beat the Saints in the “Minneapolis Miracle” and send the Vikings to the NFC championship game. That season, he threw for 3,547 yards and 22 touchdowns.
What makes Keenum unusual is how many different jobs he’s had at the position. He has played for the Texans, Rams, Vikings, Broncos, Washington, Browns, Bills and now the Bears. He has been the starter, the backup and the emergency option waiting for the call.
Even the details of his time in Chicago have fit the story. In a Bears video released last December, Keenum spent a day with the grounds crew on a player’s day off, learning about mowing, painting the lines and keeping the field ready through Chicago winters.
After Monday’s win, though, the most telling moment came with his family. Keenum hugged his son and daughter on the field, and Cadence later joined him for a television interview, saying she would even give up Bluey to watch a replay with her dad.
Keenum called it one of the most special nights of his life. The touchdowns made him the headline. The scene with his children showed what the night meant.
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