Some analysts would have you believe Cole Kmet is an average tight end. They take one look at his numbers and don’t bother exploring deeper. Chicago Bears fans know the truth. The former 2nd round pick has shown constant flashes of quality play since arriving in 2020. Most of the problems have been out of his control. A constant mix of quarterback and coaching issues hampers him. It is hard to produce in the NFL without one of those situations at least being stable. No such luck. Kmet has had half a dozen different quarterbacks, two different head coaches, and five different offensive coordinators.

Thankfully, it seems that only the media is ignorant of this fact. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler asked around the NFL for who they feel are the best tight ends. While Kmet failed to crack the top 10, he did get an honorable mention.

Cole Kmet, Chicago Bears: “Probably underutilized as a three-down tight end. He can stretch the seams and work underneath for the QB.” — NFL personnel evaluator

This should serve as a reminder that your eyes haven’t deceived you. Kmet can play. One annoying fact about many in the media is that they treat fans like they’re stupid. They’re not. They may not have the trained eyes of people in the league, but they’re smart enough to spot good players.

Cole Kmet faces his toughest test yet.

It must feel so unfair. Finally, it looks like the Bears have given him a quarterback and head coach of the highest caliber. He’s in a position to take off, and the team pulls the rug out from under him by drafting Michigan tight end Colston Loveland with the 10th overall pick. To his credit, Cole Kmet handled it well. Ben Johnson assured him the plan was to utilize both tight ends in lots of “12” personnel. That means they’ll be on the field together a lot. Kmet may not see the same target share he has in the past, but there is a strong likelihood the catches he makes will have more bang for their buck. In truth, he might be willing to accept the sacrifice if it means the Bears finally start winning.

GM Ryan Poles and head coach Ben Johnson have received widespread praise for their work this offseason. On paper, the Chicago Bears took a considerable step forward. They added quality starters in key areas and significantly improved team depth as well. If things go as hoped, this team can win 10-11 games and reach the playoffs. However, they need a strong majority of their most important decisions to produce at least somewhat. They can’t just hope guys who were already on the roster somehow take big steps forward.

History says the odds don’t favor every decision working out. There is always one notable name who failed to meet expectations, either due to poor production or injuries. Last season, that dubious honor went to Gerald Everett. The tight end was a complete non-factor for the Bears’ offense all season. Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report believes it will be one of the team’s most notable defensive additions this time, believing big defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo will be a disappointment.

“Edge-defender Dayo Odeyingbo was a good rotational player for three seasons with the Colts before emerging as a starter last year. However, expectations for him are set to jump after he signed a three-year, $48 million deal with the Chicago Bears.

Unfortunately, Odeyingbo will have a difficult time living up to those higher expectations. Though a starting-caliber end, he’s unlikely to provide a massive boost to Chicago’s sack production. The 25-year-old had just three sacks, seven tackles for loss and 19 QB pressures in 17 games last season.”

Much of this depends on the Chicago Bears’ expectations.

They signed Odeyingbo to become a complementary piece opposite Montez Sweat. Do they have a specific sack total in mind for him? If it’s 10 or more, then yeah, it might be a disappointing year. Odeyingbo has never had more than eight sacks in a season. That includes his time at Vanderbilt in college. He just isn’t a natural sack guy. He’s big, strong, and has great length. He can weaponize that to become a strong edge-setter against the run and is disruptive to the pocket. However, he doesn’t have the closing speed to ensure lots of sacks. Maybe the light switch goes on. Maybe Dennis Allen finds smarter ways to use him than Gus Bradley did. The key with Odeyingbo for the Chicago Bears is understanding who he is. He’s not a star. If you remember that, then expectations shouldn’t get out of control.

The Chicago Bears had plenty of reasons to hire Ben Johnson. He’s young, energetic, intense, competitive, and passionate. You want that from your head coach. However, the main selling point was his genius as an offensive mind. He’d engineered a top-five offense for three years in Detroit, transforming a lowly franchise into a contender almost overnight. After decades of leaning on mostly defensive-oriented head coaches, the Bears wanted to try moving into the new age for once. Their first attempt with Matt Nagy didn’t work, but this time felt different.

Johnson has a far stronger track record than Nagy, who only spent one year as a coordinator and didn’t even call plays for most of it. People have good reasons to think Johnson is what this team needs, especially quarterback Caleb Williams. If you’re looking for evidence, Netflix provided some during their acclaimed series “Quarterback.” It follows three prominent NFL quarterbacks during the 2024 season. One of them was Lions starter Jared Goff. One segment showed the now-infamous Stumblebum play that led to a wide-open touchdown at Soldier Field. It helps illustrate how insanely detailed Johnson is.

Ben Johnson is a different animal.

The origin of that play call alone isn’t what makes it crazy. First, he had to see a play happen from the previous year, remember it, and decide to use it as the foundation of a trick play. Then he must pinpoint every detail necessary to make it work: Goff stumbling, the running back diving to the turf, and all the offensive linemen screaming “Fumble!” When they talk about a coach being detailed, these are the little things you don’t see. All of it was necessary to fool the Bears’ defense into biting on the fake. It worked to perfection. That is the level of wizardry Ben Johnson is bringing to the table. No wonder Lions players loved him so much. He makes the game easy.

Fans always have lofty expectations of players. They dream about what somebody could be rather than realistically looking at what he is. Sure, there is a possibility their hopes are realized, but more often than not, it’s always below the bar. That is not to say said players are bad. It is merely important to remember that great players are rare. When he arrived in April, Chicago Bears fans weren’t sure what to make of Ozzy Trapilo. He was the second of their three 2nd round picks and the eighth offensive tackle taken.

In circumstances like that, it was difficult to get overly excited. There is no way seven other teams completely missed the possibility he might be a good player. Yet from how you hear people inside Halas Hall talk, Trapilo is anything but a project. He’s big, long, athletic for his size, and far more mature than he gets credit for. Adam Jahns of CHGO has covered the Bears for a long time. He’s watched plenty of offensive linemen come and go. He admitted on a recent podcast that Trapilo reminds him of a beloved fan favorite.

Ozzy Trapilo becoming Kyle Long would be incredibly fortunate.

It has felt like the Bears’ offensive line has lacked a player of Long’s caliber for years. They never really replaced him after he retired in 2020. He’s been their best blocker by a considerable margin in the past decade. The interesting part is he was a guard. Ozzy Trapilo is a tackle. If the Bears somehow got the tackle version of Long, that would be remarkable good fortune. He could lock down their left tackle spot, giving them two highly capable blockers on the edges for the first time since Jimbo Covert and Keith Van Horne. It also might be an indicator that Jahns and others see him as an option to move inside. Don’t forget Long was a tackle in college. He made the transition to guard easily. Trapilo can too.

The new stadium finally seems to be gathering momentum. After the Chicago Bears wasted months flirting with the idea of building a new downtown complex, they’ve concluded such a venture will take too much time and painful negotiating. They’ve shifted back to the original plan of building in Arlington Heights. Property tax disagreements were settled. The only thing left is getting some important legislation squared away in Springfield. Such an opportunity is coming in October. If things go as planned, the Bears might get shovels in the ground before the year ends.

It appears they’re using the intervening time to collect information. Jeff Agrest of the Chicago Sun-Times revealed something interesting. The Bears have sent out surveys to season ticket holders. The questions cover the new stadium. While the actual structure of the building isn’t being discussed, fans appear to have a significant voice in some other key areas. One line that stood out from the mass email is what the organization seeks from this approach.

“Your feedback will play a key role in shaping fan experience, amenities, and ticketing options in a new stadium.”

The Chicago Bears are living up to at least one of their promises.

Kevin Warren and others have repeatedly stated since this odyssey began that the new stadium would be geared toward maximizing the fans’ experience. They don’t just want it to be a place to watch football games; they want it to be a place where fans can bring their families and enjoy themselves in various ways. That is something the most modern stadiums in the NFL have taken into account. For years, it was a big sticking point for the Chicago Bears as they argued with the Chicago Park District about modernizing Soldier Field. It is why the McCaskey family purchased the Churchill Downs property in the first place. They want a stadium befitting their franchise and the fans they love. It makes total sense to ask the people themselves what they want.

A massive controversy is unfolding. It has never been a secret that the relationship between the NFL and its players is often acrimonious. However, it appears things have reached the most serious level they have in decades. Last month, Pablo Torre and Mike Florio revealed that the league worked to cover up collusion between owners to prevent any players from receiving fully guaranteed contracts. This came after the disastrous Deshaun Watson deal in Cleveland. Since then, no team, including the Chicago Bears, has handed out such a contract.

To understand the extent, most of the league hasn’t signed their 2nd round picks from the recent draft because agents want those deals to be fully guaranteed. Well, it turns out this fiasco goes way deeper. It turns out the collusion isn’t limited to just the NFL. They may have gotten help from the Players Association. Don Van Natta Jr. and Kalyn Kahler dropped a column on ESPN that delivered multiple bombshells.

It started with the revelation that a deal was struck between the league and NFLPA head Lloyd Howell.

The NFL and senior leaders of the NFL Players Association struck an unusual confidentiality agreement that hid the details of an arbitration decision from players, including a finding that league executives had urged team owners to reduce guaranteed player compensation, multiple sources told ESPN…

…The confidentiality agreement had kept details of the 61-page ruling a secret until two weeks ago, when the “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast published the document and created a stir among union members. Some players told ESPN that they were surprised by details in the ruling and that they didn’t understand why the union hadn’t shared the ruling with them.

On Tuesday night, nearly six months after Droney’s decision, the NFLPA, led by executive director Lloyd Howell Jr., decided to seek an appeal of the ruling, a senior union source told ESPN.

It gets better.

Howell might be an even bigger snake than people realize. The article revealed that players have already hired a lawyer to lead an inquiry into his activities. Since then, it has come to light that Howell also has a part-time job working with a private equity fund that is working to buy into NFL teams. All of this is a glaring indication that the man isn’t working in the best interests of the players. He’s trying to play both sides to his personal gain.

The union’s decision to appeal a nearly 6-month-old decision comes at a time when Howell’s leadership of the NFLPA has come under scrutiny on multiple fronts. Sources told ESPN that the union last month hired Ronald C. Machen of law firm Wilmer Hale to work with a special committee of players to review Howell’s activities as the executive director. Machen declined to comment Wednesday.

According to sources, the Machen-led inquiry was triggered by ESPN reporting in May that the FBI and federal prosecutors are investigating the union’s financial dealings related to a multibillion-dollar group-licensing firm, OneTeam Partners. The firm was co-founded in 2019 by the NFLPA and the Major League Baseball Players Association. Howell and MLBPA executive director Tony Clark are on the OneTeam board.

Chicago Bears players and others absolutely should be furious.

Based on all the evidence, Howell was actively working against their best interests. He reached an agreement with the NFL without informing them that he had forged a deal to prevent their ability to maximize the money they could earn. That is a horrendous level of betrayal and goes against everything the head of the NFLPA should stand for. Cole Kmet and T.J. Edwards are the Chicago Bears’ two representatives on the board. Both had influence in sparking the inquiry to investigate Howell. One can imagine they’ve informed others in the locker room about how bad this is. The big question now is whether he loses his job, or more like how much longer he can hang onto it.