Chicago Bears tight end Cole Kmet is starting to become a complete player, and his head coach, Ben Johnson, is taking notice. Following the Bears' 19-17 win over the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium in Week 11, Johnson touched on Kmet's improvement.
Specifically, he's adding a blocking element to his game that had been lacking relative to his play-making as a pass-catcher. Kmet's had the surest hands on the team, with five drops over the past four seasons, and is part of Johnson's "completion-driven" game plan.
Kmet did the Bears a solid by offering more than just pass-catching on a day when Chicago's passing game was off.
"He did a nice job. We came into this game wanting to be very completion-driven, and yet when you look at the stat sheet, we weren't as high completion percentage as we would like to be, or as efficient. There's a number of reasons for that, but I do think that [Williams] getting quickly to Cole was what we wanted to see in this game. That was by design," Johnson said, via the team's official website.
"I get that he caught a couple more balls, but I'm not even talking about that," Johnson continued. "He was great in the running game. And then in pass pro, we put him in some tough matchups there on some of their defensive end and outside linebacker types, and I thought he did an outstanding job throughout that. And then, when he was a ball carrier, you felt his presence out there. He was lowering his shoulder. He was stiff-arming. He brought our sideline to life a couple times."
Caleb Williams didn't have his best game by any stretch against the Vikings, turning in perhaps his second-worst game of the season. Brian Flores' game plan, where the Vikings blitzed Williams on 24 of his 36 dropbacks (66.7%), the second-highest blitz rate by any defense in a game this season, wreaked havoc on the passing game. While the rushing attack game was stifled to a degree as well, Kmet and a sturdy offensive line helped D'Andre Swift rack up 90 rushing yards on 21 carries.
Cole Kmet's Improvement a Microcosm of Bears' Improvement in 2025
Everything coming together for Kmet in his sixth year as a pro is a small example of a larger trend in Chicago this season: under Johnson, the offensive weapons that always flashed potential are doing it at the right times and winning close games. The win over the Vikings was the Bears' third straight win in a game that wasn't decided until the fourth quarter.
Overcoming down weeks is the mark of an improved team. Chicago has consistently done that in 2025 by establishing a never-say-die attitude. The best part? The Dallas Cowboys are now suffering on defense after hiring Matt Eberflus as their defensive coordinator.
The needle is moving in the right direction: all the way up. It's unclear how high the Bears could fly just yet, but there's significant improvement offensively and enough situational defense to pull out five one-score wins and counting.