Cole Kmet And Colston Loveland Creating Serious Buzz Inside Halas Hall

Ben Johnson has said from the outset that the Chicago Bears' offense would look considerably different from what he ran in Detroit. That isn't because the head coach is trying to be cheeky. It has everything to do with the personnel he has on hand. The Lions' offense had different strengths compared to the Bears'. His job is to mold the scheme into something that maximizes those strengths. One that appears to have people genuinely excited inside Halas Hall is the tight end situation with Cole Kmet and Colston Loveland.

Talent-wise, this is probably the best pairing Chicago has fielded in over a decade, at least. Probably longer. Johnson had Sam LaPorta in Detroit, but didn't have anybody remotely close to him on the rest of the depth chart. That is no longer the case. He has two tight ends who can be legitimate weapons in the passing game. If you want an idea of the vibe inside the building, just listen to what GM Ryan Poles had to say to the Chicago Tribune. People can already see the possibilities, and there are many.

It wasn’t too long ago before the draft that Cole (Kmet) was our main, No. 1 tight end. Then all of a sudden you go through the draft (and select Colston Loveland with the 10th pick) and you have two (tight ends) with two different skill sets, and you can see (Johnson’s) brain start to twist and turn, like: All right, this is what we can do now to put a defense in a tough position and also to allow everybody else to have success. Shoot, we saw that on the first drive of the preseason game (against the Buffalo Bills).

Cole Kmet and Colston Loveland create pick-your-poison situations.

Kmet himself mentioned how he noticed the benefits almost immediately. Having Loveland on the field has forced defenses to account for him by putting a safety on him. That creates a big problem. It means Cole Kmet is matched up with a linebacker. Most linebackers aren't big enough or fast enough to cover him. You saw it on that opening drive against Buffalo. Loveland caught a pass on a bootleg to start things off. The Bills began shadowing him with safety help. A couple of plays later, Kmet gashed them for 29 yards. A linebacker was on him in coverage. This was without any fancy scheming or motions. It was pure talent taking advantage of mismatches. No wonder the Bears are excited. They know this can turn their offense into something fearsome if deployed properly.