The Chicago Bears had their best offensive performance of 2022 on Sunday in Minnesota. Much of that came through the air, which was an unexpected surprise. Justin Fields got most of the attention thanks to his excellent completion percentage and 118 passer rating. Rightfully so. He was the best player on the field for Chicago. However, he did get some help. Darnell Mooney had that fantastic catch late in the first half. David Montgomery had 62 yards receiving. Yet nobody noticed how valuable Cole Kmet was.
The big tight end was invisible through his first two weeks, failing to make a single catch against San Francisco and Green Bay. However, it appears things have changed recently. The tight end has 101 yards across the past three games while catching nine of the ten passes thrown his way. Former Bear Tom Thayer reviewed the Vikings film. He came away impressed with how strong the connection between Kmet and his quarterback has become.
Cole Kmet finally seems comfortable.
Learning a new offense is difficult. That is true for every position, not just quarterbacks. The responsibilities asked of a tight end in Luke Getsy’s new scheme are significantly different from Matt Nagy’s. As a result, Kmet seemed out of sorts during the entire month of September. Sunday in Minnesota felt like the first proper moment where the third-year tight end knew and executed his responsibilities well. Every time Fields needed a big conversion, it was often Kmet he’d look for.
Nobody is saying the guy will suddenly transform into Travis Kelce. That is never happening. Still, Cole Kmet is looking more and more like the solid player he was towards the end of last season: a solid combo player that can block and catch passes. At his current pace, he should finish with around 500 yards. That isn’t terrible for a tight end. The challenging part for the Bears is getting him into the end. Kmet hasn’t scored a touchdown since 2020. That can’t continue.
Subscribe to the BFR Youtube channel and ride shotgun with Dave and Ficky as they break down Bears football like nobody else.
Actually, for a second round draft pick, Cole Kmet’s performance has much improvement expected.
He played the whole Game last week and didn’t try and catch 1 Pass with his Helmet!! Baby steps …
Great video by old man Thayer, great Bear. Quick, let’s get to the point. Good stuff.
Kmet had zero TD catches last year because every time they got close to the end zone, Nagy put Jimmy Graham in to get the TD. We can’t fault Kmet for not catching passes when he’s not even on the field. Now Nagy and Graham are gone, so that should change.
That said, we might find out that Kmet just isn’t good at getting open in the end zone – some players have a knack for that, others don’t. But this season, he should get chances to catch TD passes and we’ll see what happens.
Love his beast mode after every catch