During Thursday night’s game between the Chicago Bears and the New England Patriots, Bears tight end Cole Kmet suffered a serious knee injury and will miss the remainder of the season.
On Friday, head coach Ben Johnson announced what the team feared after testing, yet still had only great things to say about the Bears’ 2020 draft pick.
“He’s everything we want to be about here,” Johnson said, via ESPN. “He’s one of the glue guys. He’s one of the guys that I can count on, whether it’s a messaging standpoint or getting the pulse of the team. He’s going to be sorely missed.”
During the fourth quarter, Kmet caught a short pass from quarterback Caleb Williams that led to a nasty collision with Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez and linebacker Robert Spillane. Kmet immediately grabbed at his right knee and was carted to the locker room, giving the crowd a thumbs-up on his way through the tunnel.
“It stinks, it does. I hate it for him. I hate it for his teammates as well,” Johnson said. “And yet the train keeps rolling along. Someone else has to step up.”
The Bears have praised Kmet’s efforts since training camp; offensive coordinator Press Taylor spoke of his adeptness and called him “everything we are about” this summer.
“It’s the way he approaches his work in the meeting room, in the building, just the presence that he is,” Taylor said via The Athletic. “He has the right mindset, and he’s about the right stuff. He can do anything we ask.”
The seven-year veteran will be missed at his position, and the Bears are now forced to lean on Colston Loveland and rookie Sam Roush at tight end for the rest of the season.
“We trained all our tight ends to be able to do all the jobs,” Johnson said. “I don’t see us really changing who we are or what we do as a result of that. … There’s a lot of solutions out there to make sure that we can still run the ball, pass protect and our route running, I think we’re gonna be OK.”
Despite the bad news after Thursday night’s 30-24 win against the Patriots, the Bears improved to 5-2 on the season.
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