Through two games, the Chicago Bears are tied for third in the league in total plays run with “12 personnel” on the field.
According to TruMedia, the Bears have had two tight ends on the field on 57 of 127 snaps this season. The 44.9 percent rate ranks fourth. Most often, that has been Cole Kmet and Colston Loveland.
Yet, Kmet, the seventh-highest-paid tight end by average salary, and Loveland, the No. 10 pick in this year’s draft, have combined for 72 yards and five catches.
Two of those receptions came courtesy of backup quarterback Tyson Bagent in the Week 2 drubbing in Detroit.
Coach Ben Johnson is a big proponent of using multiple tight ends. It’s apparent in the Bears’ personnel packages. So why aren’t they getting the football?
“The fact that the tight ends aren’t involved more, that’s a reflection of me more than anybody else,” Johnson said Wednesday. “So I’m on that.”
We know Johnson is more than capable of scheming up the tight ends. He did it in Detroit. As a rookie, Sam LaPorta was targeted 11 times in his first two games. Meanwhile, No. 14 pick Tyler Warren has 16 targets in his first two NFL games with the Colts.
Loveland has three.
“At the end of the day, we’re asked to do whatever we need to do to go win the game, and that’s what we’re going to do,” Loveland said Wednesday, “whether that’s run blocking 50 snaps a game or running routes 50 snaps a game, whatever it is, we’ve got to go out there and execute and at the end of the day, get a win.”
Unfortunately for Kmet, this isn’t new territory. In his first game in Matt Nagy’s offense, he got one target. His first game in Luke Getsy’s offense? One target. The first game of the Shane Waldron experience? One target for Kmet. At least with Johnson dialing it up, Kmet got four targets in the opener, but then only one before the fourth quarter against the Lions.
In Week 1, Johnson said the lack of tight end targets was partially by design. That week’s game plan called for the tight ends to spend more time blocking, whether for the run game or protecting against Brian Flores’ defense. Week 2? That was supposed to be the game.
“I kind of knew that first game that the tight end position wasn’t going to be featured as much,” Johnson said Monday. “This game, I thought we were going to bounce back more both with Cole and Colston.”
Missed opportunities in Detroit?
For nearly 57 minutes on Sunday, Kmet and Loveland combined for one target. Then Bagent threw it to them on back-to-back plays with three minutes to go.
Rewatching the game with the All-22 camera angle, several plays stand out where Loveland and/or Kmet appear open. We don’t know the play design or where quarterback Caleb Williams’ progression is going to take us. We don’t know which plays he made the right read on or how truly “open” the tight ends were.
Getting the ball to the tight ends can be on the quarterback, too. But he also needs to have time to throw.
“Like Ben said, it’s him, but also it’s me when I’m out there on the field being able to drop back see the coverage and maybe pop the ball down to one of those guys even when it’s one of those situations where we’re trying to fight back, get back into the game,” Williams said. “It’s still just one play at a time, and how you come back in games is taking it one play at a time.”
On the Bears’ second drive, Loveland ran a drag across the field from right to left, and he had a step on the defender. Williams threw it to running back Kyle Monangai in the flat.
Loveland was about to get past the linebacker when Williams threw to Monangai. If Williams had thrown it to his left to the rookie tight end, it probably would have been a chunk play. The protection did seem sound. The linebacker may have kept Williams from going in Loveland’s direction.
Late in the first quarter, Williams threw to running back D’Andre Swift in the left flat. He also had Loveland available over the middle, a frequent location we’ve seen Williams throw to backs and receivers.
Early in the second quarter came the Bears’ one successful play to a tight end before the game got out of hand. Pausing the play here, it shows Williams’ trust in Kmet. The veteran tight end was covered but about to run his route back to the ball. Williams threw to a spot and hit Kmet for a first down.
“I think he feels that (chemistry) with the tight end group, too, even though we need to get that going a little bit more in games,” Johnson said. “We’ve seen that in practice quite a bit.”
Williams’ interception came on second-and-32. Before that play devolved and had Williams scrambling and flinging it downfield, he had Loveland open in the left flat.
On Wednesday, Williams said that a few of those long down-and-distance situations “come to mind” when thinking of ways to get the tight ends more involved.
“Let them catch, tuck, knife and get maybe 12 (yards), maybe more, if they bounce off a few tackles, that’s a part of playing QB, a part of the game,” he said.
In the third quarter, Williams completed a 15-yard throw to wide receiver DJ Moore. No one will quibble with that. On the back side of the play, Kmet is an option. If anything, this breakdown is a good example of Kmet showing the ability to get open and the scheme putting the tight ends in a good position.
On the next play, Williams got sacked. He had Loveland earlier in the play, and it’s possible that he felt the backside pressure, which may have prevented him from coming back that way to throw to the rookie.
Early in the fourth quarter, we’re definitely in garbage time, but this is another sack where a tight end found space in the flat.
The next play was Williams’ interception that was nullified by a roughing-the-passer penalty. It’s hard to put a full critique on plays at this part of the game, but he had Kmet in the right flat.
A common coaching refrain is “all 11,” meaning all 11 players need to be working in unison for a team to be its most efficient. That’s reflected here, as there are myriad reasons the tight ends didn’t get the ball in the above situations. Sometimes the quarterback missed them. Sometimes the quarterback was pressured and had to go to a different read. And we don’t know where in the progression the tight ends even were.
Whatever the reason, it’s not enough production for the Bears’ massive investment in the position.
What’s next vs. Dallas?
In Week 1, tight end Dallas Goedert led the Eagles with seven catches against the Cowboys. Last Sunday, Giants tight end Theo Johnson had four catches for 34 yards on five targets.
Considering some of the leaks in Dallas’ defense — the Cowboys are allowing 9.4 yards per attempt, a 78.8 percent completion rate and a passer rating of 114.2 — there should be some openings for Kmet and Loveland to get going.
“A lot of chunk plays,” Loveland said. “The stick routes, the OTBs (on-the-ball routes), middle of the field’s pretty open. They’re a well-coached defense, you can tell. Running to the ball, finishing. They’re flying around. It’ll be a good test for sure.”
That rapport that we saw between Williams and his tight ends in training camp and the preseason should give confidence that this can be a two-game blip.
“We had a few passes today where it was just kind of being on the same page with those guys,” Williams said. “I feel that way. I believe they feel that way, and (we just need) to go out there and execute plays and deliver them the ball and let them go and work.
“I know the first game I missed one to Colston across the middle. But I think over the time, OTAs, training camp and now, our connection has grown. I think we’re on the same page and have the same idea of where I think they should be and where they will be.”
(Top photo of Cole Kmet: David Banks / Imagn Images)