The Chicago Bears’ offense wasn’t able to do much outside of running the ball last season. To their credit, they did it very well. However, this is a passing league. If you can’t put the ball in the air with any degree of success, it’s hard to win in today’s NFL. The Bears proved that again with the worst passing attack in the league. Justin Fields put up 149 yards per game. That couldn’t be allowed to happen again in 2023. Hence why Ryan Poles and Matt Eberflus pushed forward an agenda to upgrade the receiving corps.
Chase Claypool had already arrived from Pittsburgh a few months ago. The Bears then traded for D.J. Moore from Carolina. Together with Darnell Mooney, this might be the best receiving trio this team has had in ten years. They also bolstered the offensive line with veteran guard Nate Davis and 1st round tackle Darnell Wright. However, the position Eberflus might be most excited about is the tight ends. He thinks the combination of Cole Kmet and Robert Tonyan gives the offense a dimension they didn’t have last year.
“Mismatches. It’s just mismatches. And we move those guys around, put them at 1, put ’em in the slot, put ’em connected to the core. Having two guys is going to be big. It’s going to be big in situational football. When you’re trying to convert on third down. It’ll be big in the red zone. Those guys have big catch radiuses and you can use your body to always stay open. It’s an important piece for us.”
Matt Eberflus still has memories of last season.
The Bears were 13th in NFL on 3rd down conversion rate and 13th in red zone scoring efficiency last season. While not terrible, it wasn’t good enough. Those lower numbers played a big part in several of the tight losses Chicago suffered. Teams that make the playoffs must be proficient in both categories. It’s not a coincidence that eight of the top ten teams in 3rd down conversion made the playoffs and eight of the top ten in red zone efficiency did as well. That is why Eberflus is excited.
Kmet and Tonyan offer a unique dimension. Having one tight end that can create a mismatch is bad enough. Having two is something defenses hope to avoid at all costs. Five of Kmet’s seven touchdowns came in the red zone. Five of the last seven Tonyan have scored were in the same area. Both guys are 6’5 or taller, athletic, and have good hands. There is no shortage of ways Matt Eberflus and the coaching staff can deploy them in scoring situations. All of this while having to also worry about Fields’ legs and the numerous threats at wide receiver.
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Was happy to see Kmet finally hitting pay dirt last year. He had some good yardage the prior year but didn’t score often. He seemed to turn that around last year and only should get better with Tonyan paired up with him. What’s even cooler is that both of them are local boys who grew up die hard Bears fans. Should be fun..
And, defenses still must account for the running game in the red zone as well. Fun times ahead!
Gotta say, I think Erik’s final paragraph is a bit stupid. “Five of Kmet’s seven touchdowns came in the red zone. Five of the last seven Tonyan have scored were in the same area.” That stat is just dumb. What it tells me is that neither Kmet nor Tonyan has breakaway speed. Well, duh, they are TEs. How many TEs do? Pitts, maybe Kittle when healthy. How many of DJ Moore’s last 7 TDs came while in the red zone? How about Davonte Adams? I suspect those numbers will be fairly random, and not have any deep meaning about the type of WR. Tall receivers tend to be targets… Read more »