Chicago Bears TE Cole Kmet shines with 2 touchdowns in loss to Detroit

CHICAGO – Earlier in the week, Bears quarterback Justin Fields and tight end Cole Kmet stayed after practice to work on a deep ball that offensive coordinator Luke Getsy had designed.

They tried it several times, and the results were not great.

“We missed on every one,” Fields said.

Even so, when Getsy called the play Sunday against the Detroit Lions, all that extra work paid off. A miscommunication in the Lions’ secondary left Kmet wide open. He caught a deep ball from Fields near the 20-yard line and waltzed in for a 50-yard touchdown.

It was Kmet’s second touchdown of the game and his fifth touchdown in the last three games. The 50-yard score put the Bears up by 14 points, but it was a lead that they would ultimately blow in a Lions’ comeback win, 31-30, on Sunday at Soldier Field.

The Bears have now lost three straight games in which they scored 29, 32 and 30 points. With Fields running all over the place – he totaled 147 rushing yards and two touchdown Sunday – the offense has emerged as a legitimate threat.

It’s probably no coincidence that, as the offense has taken off, Kmet has also emerged from a deep slumber. He caught four passes for 74 yards and two touchdowns in Sunday’s loss. Over the last three games, he has caught 11 passes for 126 yards and five touchdowns.

The Lake Barrington native tried to deflect the credit after the game Sunday.

“It’s really just opportunity,” Kmet said. “Everybody’s just executing. There’s a lot of things going on in these plays.”

That’s all true. But it’s also true that Kmet is catching the ball and finding the end zone.

Kmet’s first touchdown Sunday came earlier in the third quarter on a first-and-goal play where he simply beat a smaller defensive back to create some space. Fields’ pass was high, and Kmet went up and caught it with his arms outstretched.

To score three games is a row is huge for Kmet. He didn’t find the end zone once during the entire 2021 season. He caught 60 passes for 612 yards last season, but not a single touchdown.

His start to the 2022 season was slow, too. He didn’t catch a pass until Week 3. He didn’t find the end zone until Oct. 30, but he now has five total touchdowns on the season.

“Cole’s getting better each and every week with his route running,” Fields said. “He works hard, day in and day out. I’m definitely happy for him and the way he’s growing, the way he’s continuing to improve each and every week.”

The 2020 second-round draft pick from Notre Dame has always been a key part of this offense since Matt Eberflus became the head coach. Even when he wasn’t catching passes early in the season, he was on the field for more than 80% of offensive snaps. He contributes blocking in the run game. He runs a lot of routes.

The results, though, are finally showing.

As Fields pointed out, the extra work after practice is paying off. Even if they weren’t hitting on the deep ball in practice, the extra time proved beneficial on the 50-yard touchdown play.

“The safety overplayed a little bit, I ran a good route off the safety, he bit and I knew right when I planted my foot is was going to be wide open,” Kmet said.

He was as wide open as a target can be.

“It was kind of cool to see us connect on that one,” Fields said.