Case Keenum’s first start in more than 1,000 days turned into a statement night for the Bears, and Ben Johnson made sure everyone knew how much he trusted his quarterback.
Chicago rolled to a 27-7 win over the Eagles in Week 3, with Keenum guiding the offense through a 34-attempt night. Afterward, Johnson praised the veteran’s command and preparation, pointing to the way Keenum handled the quarterback meeting the night before the game.
“It’s all about Case Keenum and what he was able to do here tonight,” Johnson said, via ESPN’s Courtney Cronin. “I thought he did an extraordinary job.”
Johnson said Keenum essentially took over that session himself.
“It was the night before the game. We always do our quarterback meeting.
He ran the show, and the coaching staff kind of took a back seat. There were no reminders from us.
He was just going through the list of every single play that was on the plan, and what he was going to do, and gave us his favorites. And that was really - I thought that right there is a good indicator of what it’s going to look like on game day.”
Keenum, meanwhile, leaned into how much the moment meant to him after bouncing back into the lineup. He said his confidence kept growing as Johnson continued to trust him to throw the ball.
“Playing well anytime in your career feels good,” Keenum said. “To do it on ‘Monday Night Football’ after you thought you weren’t ever going to play again multiple times.
Golly, this is special. It’s really special.
And I don’t know if I’ll be able to put it into words tonight, but I’m going to enjoy it tonight, that’s for sure.”
He also pointed to the back-and-forth with Johnson during the game.
“Maybe when he kept throwing it. [Johnson] was like, ‘Hey, we’re going to throw it,’ and I’m like, ‘All right.
Cool.’ Let’s keep going.
And that trust, he showed it, not just said it.”
In Green Bay, Tucker Kraft had high praise for Skyy Moore’s work on special teams, calling the wide receiver the league’s best punt returner and saying he has changed the unit for the better.
“Best in the league,” Kraft said of Moore, via The Athletic. “I told him, ‘When that ball’s coming down in the air, man, you gotta just keep reminding yourself, you are the best in the league at what you do.’”
I can’t catch those punts. They move around.
They’re shifting in the wind, especially the wet balls. But Skyy’s one of one.
I’m really grateful that he’s on our team.”
The Vikings, meanwhile, are leaning on their young pass rushers to keep things moving. Veteran linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel credited that group for helping power Minnesota to a 3-0 start, even with injuries piling up and the offense still searching for consistency.
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