The Chicago Bears entered the season with the most stacked corps of playmakers in football. Thus far, most of them are still in debt, although it's hard to judge them when their starting quarterback has missed most of the season.
That's why it might be way too early to sound the alarms on Luther Burden III. Yes, he hasn't lived up to expectations, even in high-scoring matchups, but the second-year pro should be better once Caleb Williams is back on the field.
If anything, he's on pace to best his 2025 production by a wide margin. He's up to 23 catches on 35 targets for 266 yards and one touchdown, and he had 47 catches for 652 yards and two scores in his first year in the league.
The Bears will get Luther Burden III going soon
Even without Caleb Williams on the field, and with some quiet games, Burden's per-game production has gone up (53.2 yards per game and 4.6 catches per game, up from 3.1 receptions and 43.5 yards per contest.
Of course, to be fair, the bulk of Burden's production came in the second half of the season, so those 'per game' splits might be somewhat misleading. But if they got off to such a slow start last year, mostly because Ben Johnson brought him up slowly, then there should be nothing to worry about right now.
Rome Odunze, Colston Loveland, and Burden have been much quieter than expected. Some of that has been by design, considering that the Bears have way too many weapons and someone will always be the odd man out. But how can we judge this like a normal season when nothing about it has been normal?
The Bears miss their quarterback, and they'll have to improvise and get by until he's back in the fold. The coach has to tailor his game plan to whoever is behind center, and both Tyson Bagent and Case Keenum have different strengths and weaknesses.
Burden has done a lot of talking recently. He tried to poke the bear (no pun intended) before the loss to the Green Bay Packers, and then doubled down on it by getting into some online beef with Anthony Davis and bragging about leading the team in receiving yards when he couldn't even crack 50.
That's not a nice look for him, but hopefully it will fuel the fire in him and bring out the best in his game. This offense is better when he's making guys miss in the open field, and it should be just a matter of time before he's back to his old self.
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