BALTIMORE — Defensive tackle Grady Jarrett wasn’t fooled into thinking his Chicago Bears had any kind of advantage just because the Baltimore Ravens were starting quarterback Tyler Huntley.

Jarrett faced Huntley in 2022, the year that Huntley earned a late Pro Bowl invite after filling in for Lamar Jackson for four starts.

“You’ve got to give Huntley the credit,” said Jarrett, who’s in his first year in Chicago following a decade with the Atlanta Falcons. “I mean, the guy — see, I remember when he was a Pro Bowl quarterback. I’ve played Huntley a couple times and I think he’s a good quarterback.”

Huntley, 27, sure looked like a good quarterback on Sunday. Making his first start of the season, Huntley led the Ravens to a 30-16 win over the Bears on Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

The Bears knew they were facing a Ravens team that was going to scratch and claw its way for every yard. The Ravens entered Week 8 with a 1-5 record and in desperate need of a win to maintain any playoff hopes.

“They were hungry, they were determined, and truth be told I expected a little bit more out of our squad to counter that,” Bears coach Ben Johnson said.

All week long, it looked as if Jackson might make the start after injuring his hamstring in late September. He returned to practice this week and seemed to be trending in the right direction. The team listed him as a full participant in practice on Friday. A day later, the Ravens announced that they were retroactively calling Jackson limited in practice and that the two-time MVP would not play in Sunday’s game.

It was a late change, and one the NFL said it will look into, but the Bears defenders didn’t feel as if it made all that much difference in their preparation. They knew that whether it was Jackson or Huntley, they were going to see plenty of zone reads and quarterback runs.

In their previous two games without Jackson, the Ravens started Cooper Rush, who is much less mobile than Jackson or Huntley. This time, coming out of a bye week, the Ravens elected to go with Huntley — who appeared in 20 games for Baltimore from 2020-23, including nine starts in place of Jackson. Huntley even beat the Bears in 2021 at Soldier Field.

“He’s been in this offense before,” Bears cornerback Nahshon Wright said. “He plays the same type of way (as Jackson). He’s able to create with his legs. It didn’t change anything with us.”

Huntley remained a free agent through training camp this summer. The Ravens signed him to their practice squad after the 53-man roster deadline in late August. At the time, it looked like a move out of left field. The reunion paid dividends Sunday.

Huntley is the only Ravens quarterback not named Lamar Jackson who has won a game he started since 2020, per NFL Next Gen Stats. The Ravens have cycled through backup quarterbacks over that time, including Rush, Huntley, Robert Griffin III, Josh Johnson and Anthony Brown. Huntley is the only one with a win (four, in fact).

“Shoutout to him for stepping up,” Jarrett said. “More than him, it’s just a good team over there. The record doesn’t reflect it, but that’s a really, really good, prideful team. They gave us their best shot today and we came up short.”

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Tyler Huntley celebrates the final touchdown with running back Keaton Mitchell as head coach John Harbaugh and quarterback Lamar Jackson look on against the Chicago Bears on Oct. 26, 2025, at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

The Ravens did it with a combination of a rushing attack that racked up 177 yards and averaged 5.1 yards per carry, and by picking their spots when they wanted Huntley to throw. The Ravens offense began the day with a discombobulated three-and-out to start the game, then scored on six of the next seven possessions.

“They had too many long drives (and) they were able to go all the way down the field,” Bears safety Kevin Byard said. “I think we had some key red zone stops, but it just wasn’t enough and obviously we didn’t get any takeaways.”

The Bears had 15 takeaways over the previous four games, but none on Sunday. They were playing without two starting cornerbacks in Kyler Gordon and Tyrique Stevenson. Wright, Nick McCloud and Jaylon Jones started the game at cornerback for the Bears.

For a stretch in the third quarter, the Bears defense held the Ravens out of the end zone. It was 16-6 heading into the fourth quarter. But Huntley and running back Derrick Henry ground the Bears defense down late in the game, and a late interception from Caleb Williams gave the Ravens a short field.

Henry scored two touchdowns in the game. He ran for 71 yards on 21 carries, but he was most lethal in the red zone.

“He’s a big-time player and he’s been making plays in this league for a long time,” linebacker Tremaine Edmunds said. “We’ve just got to do a better job figuring out a way, even if they get down there (to the red zone), figuring out a way to keep it to a field goal.”

Johnson felt his team didn’t quite match the physicality of the Ravens’ offensive line.

“They play a physical brand of football,” Johnson said. “That showed up. That offensive line was getting after it and I thought our defensive line had quite a battle there throughout the game.”

Jarrett and the defensive line didn’t do enough to disrupt Huntley. It didn’t help that defensive end Dominique Robinson and defensive tackle Shemar Turner exited the game with injuries. The Bears had two sacks and only three quarterback hits.

Huntley threw for 186 yards and a touchdown on 17-for-22 passing.

The Bears were coming off four consecutive wins, but now drop to 4-3 on the season. They’ll see another backup quarterback next week in Cincinnati’s Joe Flacco.

“Every win in this league is super hard and you can’t let one loss snowball into two,” Jarrett said. “So we just scrap this one, learn from this and get back to work.”

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/26/chicago-bears-baltimore-ravens-tyler-huntley/