Ben Johnson believes Bears young talent ready for prime time vs Packers

Ariana Pensy · Correspondent · 2 hours ago

CHICAGO - The Chicago Bears will be going into their rematch against the Green Bay Packers on Sat. Dec. 20 (7:20 p.m. / FOX), a little short-handed at wide receiver as both Rome Odunze (foot) and Luther Burden III (ankle) have been ruled out.

Despite that, head coach Ben Johnson is confident in Chicago’s wide receiver depth going into this game.

“I’ve been really pleased with that room. I think we got some young guys in there that we were really impressed with throughout training camp that ended up being on the practice squad, and if called upon, I think they’ve done a great job soaking the offense in over the course of the season so far and being involved. (Wide receivers coach Antwaan Randle) El has done a great job with them, just keeping them engaged and walking through. So, they’re in a great spot.”

With both Odunze and Burden III out, other players will be expected to step up, including rookie tight end Colston Loveland. He has 28 receptions for 382 yards and four touchdowns since the beginning of November.

Especially for a rookie who missed some time during training camp because of an injury suffered in college, Loveland’s prominence in the offense is quite remarkable.

“It’s a credit to him to get not only healthy again, but at a spot to where he looks very strong. You come from a place like Michigan, you (are) already advanced as a schematic guy. He’s done a lot of things on tape over his college career that you knew were going to translate and yet he’s learning so fast, just the technique aspect of it. I think (tight end coach) Jim Dray’s done a phenomenal job getting him up to speed. The willingness to block that he showed at Michigan has really translated to this league. He’s going to continue to learn and grow, but he plays with a really good pad level for a guy that’s not a prototypical Y tight end that has a little bit more size to him. He still finds a way to play with low pad level and come off the ball and strike, which I really appreciate. I think that’s hard to find for a rookie tight end, much less a guy that’s kind of been tabbed a route runner throughout his college career. So, I view him as a complete player here at this point and he takes a lot of pride in all facets of what he’s being asked to do and so, because of that, there’s really a ton that we put on his plate from the run game to protections to route running and I’m looking forward to continuing to grow with him over this year and the future.”

Loveland is not the only rookie who has made a difference for Chicago this season. Burden III also had some strong performances before his injury. Rookie running back Kyle Monangai has helped make Chicago’s run game one of the best in the league.

Monangai has 681 rushing yards so far this season, including 176 yards against the Cincinnati Bengals earlier in the year.

“We have a number of young players that early on, it’s a lot and at this point, I think that they’re able to go out and play fast. We trust them as a coaching staff. They’ve earned that. You look all across our rookie class and there’s a number of high level contributors right now, more so on the offensive side of the ball. But, I think that comes with a lot of time and effort,” Johnson said. “But, when you see them in training camp and you see where we came from early on in camp to the end of camp, I think it’s not that bold of a statement to say that we’re going to be playing some pretty good football here at the end of the year.”

Defensively, the Bears have dealt with constant injuries at the linebacker position. However, T.J. Edwards is finally back in the lineup and Tremaine Edmunds may be able to return this week after being a full participant in practice on Thursday. Edmunds was on track to have the best season of his career prior to his groin injury.

In the 10 games he has played in so far this season, Edmunds has four interceptions, a sack, 89 total tackles, and three tackles for loss.

“He was playing tremendous football before the injury. He is a huge asset in coverage just because of how long he is. It’s hard to get the ball around him when we’re playing in zones and I think he’s really good in our match and in (man) where he can match up on tight ends and running backs out of the back field and do a really good job there,” Johnson said. “(Packers running back) Josh Jacobs is a heck of a pass catcher. He probably doesn’t get enough credit for that part of his game and so, that’s something that we need to do a good job taking care of and so, Tremaine potentially could really help us in that regard.”