Case Keenum -- Bears' likely QB this week -- was all but retired but 'found the love' with Ben Johnson

Phil Thompson, Chicago Tribune on Sep 23, 2026

Published in Football

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CHICAGO — Chicago Bears third-string quarterback Case Keenum probably has heard himself called “journeyman” a few times as a 15th-year veteran who’s on his eighth team.

“Emergency QB”? Sure, most Sundays.

But “baller”?

“He’s a prolific college quarterback,” Bears coach Ben Johnson said Wednesday of the former Houston Cougar, still the FBS career leader in passing yards (19,217) and co-leader in touchdown passes (155). “He’s got numerous records that still stand.

“He’s been a baller from the day he was born, from what I can tell. He’s got that way about him. He’s got a knack. His teammates gravitate to him. That’s a good starting point for a quarterback.”

For at least one week, it looks like Keenum will be “the man” at Halas Hall.

Caleb Williams is week to week with a hamstring injury and didn’t practice Wednesday, and primary backup Tyson Bagent is in the concussion protocol and wasn’t present at Halas Hall.

So in all likelihood, the 38-year-old Keenum will start against the Philadelphia Eagles on “Monday Night Football.”

When Johnson’s “baller” comment was brought up to Keenum, he tucked his head and stifled a laugh.

“I wish I had something (to say) about him,” he said. “I appreciate it, man.

“I’ve been around a lot of great coaches in my lifetime, my dad being my first one. I see just about every coach I’ve ever had as kind of like a father figure. Now, we’re a little closer to brothers than we are father. But that respect I have for great coaches, man, you want to run through a brick wall for the man.

“If I get a chance to have that guy in my ear, golly, he’s going to go down as probably the best play caller, play designer, coach, all the above when it’s all said and done.”

Keenum credited Johnson with restoring his passion for football and extending his career.

Before Keenum met Johnson, he had called it a career. Then he had a conversation with the first-time head coach and signed with the Bears in April 2025.

“Man, I’m the biggest Ben Johnson fan,” he said. “I’m here right now because of him. I was retired, and he called me two years ago, basically.

“In my own head, I had prepared to be ready, but there weren’t a lot of phone calls coming. He called. We were supposed to meet for like 15 minutes and wound up talking for 2 1/2 hours. I was like, OK, I want to do it. I want to do it with this guy.

“It’s been such a pleasure. I found the love of football again working with him.”

Keenum hasn’t appeared in a regular-season game since Dec. 24, 2023, when he directed the Houston Texans offense in a 36-22 loss to the Cleveland Browns. It was the second of two consecutive starts, his only appearances that season.

During training camp this summer, left tackle Theo Benedet played a lot of reps with Keenum on the second unit.

“It’s always exciting to see one of us get that start and shine for us,” Benedet said. “But in the other aspect, Case is still a very good quarterback. We see it every day and we’re excited to just watch him play and operate.

“It’s something a little different than Caleb, a veteran presence back there. So it should be cool.”

Keenum has two training camps in Johnson’s system under his belt.

“I’ve called a lot of practices for him, unscripted practices,” Johnson said. “I’ve called a lot of preseason games for him. He’s at the point of his career where he’s like another coach in a lot of ways. He’s seen a ton. He knows what good football looks like. He knows what a healthy locker room looks like and he’s a key part of what we do.”

Johnson added that he’s “not concerned at all” if Keenum is pressed into duty in a prime-time matchup against a team that made the playoffs the last five seasons and has started 2-0.

Considering the three-year layoff from regular-season action, is Keenum still capable of feeling jitters at 38?

“I tell you what, I love the feeling of being nervous,” he said. “I do get nervous and it’s not a scared nervous. It’s an excited nervous because I know I’m prepared, I’m confident in my preparation and what I’ve done. I’m confident in my teammates, I’m confident in their preparation, I’m confident in the game plan and what my coaches have put together.

“If you’re not feeling something — everybody feels it differently. I feel little butterflies, but it’s because I care. I love this game, I love this team and this Texas boy, I love Chicago, I really do.”

Keenum said if it weren’t for football, he’d be chasing that edge elsewhere.

“If I wasn’t nervous, I’m going to do something else like, I don’t know, jump out of airplanes or bungee jump, try to get it some other way,” he said. “I love this game and I tell that to kids all the time. I get nervous and I’m 38 years old.”

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