Cole Kmet has long been a stalwart for the Chicago Bears amidst the misery of the past few years. He arrived in 2020, right after the team had peaked in 2018 with their division championship. He’s known nothing but losing during five seasons in the NFL. This year might be the worst because it came with such high expectations. After starting 4-2 and looking like a serious contender, the Bears have collapsed into an eight-game losing streak, with the last two being blowout losses to San Francisco and Minnesota.
It appears the tight end finally reached his breaking point. After so much losing and watching other players not always give their best, he expressed his frustrations after the game. It includes his first recorded instance of profanity, which is a big deal for Kmet, who’s never been known for such things on camera. That should tell you how bad it is.
Cole Kmet has good reasons to be frustrated.
It goes beyond just the losing. The Bears haven’t done nearly enough to get him more involved in the offense this season. Last season, they threw the ball 513 times. Cole Kmet was targeted on 90 of those attempts. They currently sit at 468 attempts with three games left this year. Kmet has been targeted 51 times. His usage has gone way down and it shows in how inefficient the Bears passing offense has been. Only eight of the passes thrown his way haven’t been completed. Meanwhile, Keenan Allen has only caught 53 of the 97 passes thrown his way. When you try to force-feed players despite evidence it isn’t working, it leads to stalled drives and not enough points. Kmet will never single somebody out by name, but it is clear the tight end has beef with certain people in that building.
