Bears tight end Colston Loveland can’t pinpoint the exact day, but he figures it was sometime in November. He had played enough NFL games to know what was expected of him — and understood his coaches’ warnings that the most important part of the season was just getting started.
“Everyone’s saying, ‘This is when real ball starts,’” he said Thursday. “That’s when you stop being a rookie. Around then is when I would say things got a little more comfortable.”
For running back Kyle Monangai, shedding the rookie label, at least in his own head, was a product of feeling more and more confident by the week.
“At this point in the season,” he said. “It doesn’t even feel like a rookie season any more. We’re just going to work every day.”
Four Bears rookies are regular contributors to an offense that’s totaled the third-most yards in the NFL. Loveland, Monangai and wide receiver Luther Burden have combined for 13 touchdowns this season. If they score one more Sunday against the Lions, they’ll break the Bears’ modern record for a rookie class.
“Whenever our name’s called, age doesn’t matter,” Loveland said.
The Bears have called upon the four a lot down the stretch:
• Burden, one of three Bears second-round picks, had a career-high 138 receiving yards Sunday. Only two NFL rookies have totaled more in a game this season.
• Loveland, who was drafted 10th overall, caught his fifth touchdown of the season Sunday, which ranks second among all rookie tight ends.
• Monangai, a seventh-round pick, ranks fifth in rushing yards among rookies this year. The top three were picked in the first two rounds.
• And left tackle Ozzy Trapilo, another second-round pick, has started the past six games and ranks 39th among NFL tackles, according to Pro Football Focus’ grades.
“That’s why we’re here,” Loveland said. “I think with how long these seasons are and guys getting banged up, guys going down, you’re going to get an opportunity. It’s just cool that everyone’s taking advantage of that opportunity. “
Running backs coach Eric Bieniemy said the rookies probably thought they’d be placed in positions to contribute this way at some point in their careers — but maybe not so soon.
“Those guys know when they’re out there that those guys are counting on them to do it the right way,” he said. “With that comes a great deal of responsibility. I think those guys are very mature. They’ve done a great job of handling that all season. … I think they’ve all exceeded expectation.”
Burden is the latest example of how explosive a first-year player can be. On the Bears’ final drive Sunday night, he gained 14 yards on third-and-10 after catching a ball in the right flat, ducking to the inside and weaving his way back to the sideline. It was his most impressive play on a night full of them.
Before he was hurt five minutes into the second half against the Browns, he had six catches for 84 yards. After missing the Packers game, he caught eight passes for 138 yards. That’s 14 catches for 222 yards in roughly six quarters.
“Every time the ball comes to me, I’m trying to make it count,” Burden said. “I’m going to make the coach give me the ball more and more.”
That’s the sense of competition Johnson wanted to foster in his skill position players in his first season. The Bears drafted Loveland in the first round after missing out on a tackle, and Burden in Round 2 after missing out on a running back. They didn’t need a player at either position, but Johnson saw value in his skill position players knowing that they needed to perform or be overtaken by his rookies.
That’s uplifted the entire offense. Burden was pressed into action because of Rome Odunze’s injury, while Trapilo took over for an injured Theo Benedet. The Bears leaned on Loveland on Sunday — with receiver Olamide Zaccheaus out with an illness and DJ Moore severely hampered because of it, Loveland was targeted a career-high 10 times.
“Whether they’re rookies, undrafted, veteran players — it doesn’t matter who it is on offense right now,” Johnson said. “But they’ve really bought into how we go about our business.”
What’s intriguing, even this late in the season, is how much better the Bears’ rookies can be even just a week or two down the line.
“You can’t quantify how impressive it is,” offensive line coach Dan Roushar said. “And yet there’s a lot of growth for [Trapilo] that we expect for that position to be what we need it to be.”
Along the way, the members of the Bears rookie class have been rooting for each other. Monangai marveled at Burden’s third-and-10 catch at run on Sunday night.
“Luther’s an animal,” Monangai said. “It’s fun to watch.”
Told that Monangai appreciated his running style, Burden smiled.
“We run like we got something to prove,” he said. “And we do.”