A key Chicago Bears starter earned a major Week 11 honor from Pro Football Focus after an impressive performance. Here’s who received the recognition.
The national attention that has suddenly shifted to the Chicago Bears after Ben Johnson’s squad earned its seventh win of the season has been fun to witness. Bears fans have felt reasonably confident that this team has a chance to make a run in the NFC North in 2025, but until Caleb Williams and company proved they can win games on the field, the annual doubt that surrounds the Bears prevailed.
That doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. The pairing of Johnson and Williams has been everything Chicago hoped for this early in their relationship, and it’s drawn the attention of big-time talking heads like Fox Sports’ Colin Cowherd.
“They run the ball as well as almost anybody in the league,” Cowherd said. “They don’t turn it over, yet they take it away from you. And they’re excellent playing from behind, which has always been a haves and have-nots line of demarcation. So I don’t get the ‘is it sustainable?’ This league smushes everybody together. The team that always wins close games is Philadelphia.”
For the Bears to really maintain a sustainable level of success, they need their key players to continue improving week over week. And, usually, those key players are first-round picks that GM Ryan Poles has invested in over the last few years.Caleb Williams is producing. He was the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Darnell Wright is now one of the best right tackles in the NFL. He was Chicago’s first-round pick in the 2023 draft. And, now, it’s Colston Loveland, the Bears’ first-rounder in 2025, who’s beginning to show all the reasons why he was Poles’ choice at No. 10 overall.
In fact, Loveland was named to Pro Football Focus’ Week 11 Rookie Team of the Week for his performance in the Chicago Bears’ win over the Minnesota Vikings.
“Loveland has had some bad luck with making this list, as Sunday’s win over Minnesota was the third time he’s recorded a PFF game grade of at least 80.0 — yet this is the first time he’s been the highest-graded rookie tight end,” PFF’s Jim Wyman wrote. “Loveland was strong across the board in Minneapolis, catching three of his four targets for 40 yards — which included a clutch conversion on third-and-13 late in the fourth quarter. Loveland was also solid as a blocker, posting a 70.2 PFF pass-blocking and 68.2 run-blocking grades.”
Loveland ended Week 11 with three catches for 40 yards and now has 24 catches for 329 yards and two touchdowns in 2025.
It’s clear that Colston Loveland has surpassed Cole Kmet as the Chicago Bears’ top pass-catching tight end, and one of Caleb Williams’ primary reads in the passing game as the second half of the season continues to unfold.
