Ben Johnson’s offense is built to keep defenses off balance, and the Bears may only be scratching the surface of what that can look like with Colston Loveland.
The buzz around Johnson lately has centered on how hard he is to predict when he’s dialing up plays. One of the examples that’s been making the rounds is what he does on second-and-short: instead of treating it like a straight run-down, he’ll use it like a free play.
Sometimes that means a deep shot off play action. Sometimes it means handing it off.
Either way, the defense is left guessing.
That kind of uncertainty gets even nastier when you plug in a tight end like Loveland.
Carmen Vitali laid out the idea on CHGO’s latest podcast, explaining that the league has long chased the same kind of player at tight end.
"What everybody's after and what everybody, up until this point thought, to really take advantage of the questions tight ends present to defenses, you needed kind of those unicorn tight ends; the ones that are elite pass catchers and elite blockers."
Loveland fits that mold in the way Chicago wants to use him. Coming out of Michigan, he was seen as both a polished receiver and a strong blocker.
Whether he’s truly an elite blocker is still up for debate, but that’s not really the point. What matters is that he can do both, and that alone changes how defenses have to line up against the Bears.
"As long as you're willing to iso Colston Loveland against a defensive end, even if you get burned now and again, the fact that the defense knows you are willing to use them in that way makes them respect the tight end."
That respect matters because of how defenses usually respond to Chicago’s personnel. Vitali pointed out that opponents will often stay in their base look when the Bears use 12 personnel, which typically means just four defensive backs on the field. That setup makes sense if the offense is leaning on two tight ends.
But Loveland isn’t just there to help in the run game. He can threaten a defense downfield too, which turns the whole decision tree into a mess for coordinators.
The question is no longer simply whether the Bears will run or pass.
It becomes: is Loveland blocking, or is he running a route?
"He can be an extension of the offensive line and be a blocker, or he can run routes. And that's why I think Colston Loveland is so key to Ben Johnson's offense ... he is also still a downfield threat."
That’s the part that makes him such a problem. If a defense is in a base look with four defensive backs and Johnson decides to take a shot with Loveland going down the field, there’s real danger attached to that call.
On second-and-short, Loveland can help move the chains as a blocker. If Johnson flips the script and throws, he can turn into the kind of player who makes a coordinator say, “uh oh” or “whoops.”
And that’s before you get to the bigger point: how rare is it to have a tight end who can block and then rip off a 58-yard game-winning catch-and-run touchdown?
"Colston Loveland, in general, is just the engine for this offense ... the reason these heavier personnel sets aren't used very often is because you're sacrificing your best pass catchers to get tight ends on the field. If tight ends are some of your best pass catchers, then you're not sacrificing anything."
That’s the heart of why Loveland matters so much in Johnson’s system. He isn’t just filling a role. He changes the math.
And the timing makes it even more intriguing. The Bears are only heading into Year 2 for Loveland in the NFL and Year 2 of Johnson’s offense in Chicago.
Last season was more of a reset than a finished product. Caleb Williams said he was “drowning” while learning the offense, and Loveland didn’t really get rolling until Week 7, when he broke out against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Even with that slow start, he still finished with over 700 receiving yards and six scores.
So when people call this setup scary, it’s not hype. It’s the natural reaction to an offense that’s still unfolding and a tight end who can wreck a defense in more than one way.
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