Kalif Raymond’s early surge in the Chicago Bears’ passing game has cooled off, and the numbers over the last month have started to look a lot more like the pecking order expected before the season.
Through the first three games, Raymond was piling up 19 catches on 21 targets for 214 yards and a touchdown. During that same stretch, the only member of the Bears’ projected top trio doing anything close to that was Luther Burden, who had 15 receptions for 156 yards on 23 targets.
Part of Raymond’s early usage came from the Bears putting him on the field in certain situations and formations more often than Burden, which likely had something to do with Raymond’s history with Ben Johnson in Detroit. Even then, the hot start always looked difficult to sustain for a full season.
That correction has arrived. After a catchless game on two targets in Week 7 against the New England Patriots, Raymond has totaled seven catches for 30 yards on 10 targets over the last four games.
At the same time, Colston Loveland has started to look like a bigger piece of the passing attack again. Over the last four games, Loveland has 21 receptions on 33 targets, and the Bears’ target tree has settled back into the order that was expected heading into the year. For fantasy managers who stayed patient with Loveland, that has paid off.
Raymond’s role, though, still matters. He played plenty against the Patriots, logging six more snaps than Burden, and he has held at least a 68 percent share of offensive snaps in two of the last three games. The target volume has dipped hard, but the playing time has not disappeared.
That could matter even more now that Cole Kmet suffered a possible season-ending knee injury against the Patriots. If the Bears lean less on “12” and “13” personnel and use more two- and three-receiver sets, Raymond could keep seeing a healthy snap share. That might also open the door for more snaps for Burden.
The box score won’t always capture Raymond’s value in this offense. Early on, he got the chance to show up in a big way as a receiver, but even with the passing game trending back toward its expected hierarchy, he remains the kind of player who can still help the Bears in ways that don’t always show up cleanly on paper.
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