The clock ticked toward the two-minute warning, the air heavy with snowfall and the nerves of a soldout Soldier Field.
The Bears were losing by a field goal with the ball at the Giants’ 46 two weeks ago. The Bears’ best offensive players — receivers Rome Odunze and DJ Moore, and tight end Colston Loveland — were on the sideline.
Luther Burden II, though, was split right. Burden ran a fade-stop route, caught Caleb Williams’ pass, lowered his shoulder and shoved his way forward for another nine yards. The 27-yard gain put the Bears in field goal range. Two plays later, Williams ran 17 yards for a touchdown — and another last-minute win.
“One of the biggest moments of the game, the ball goes to Luther …” Williams said. “That belief — I know who we have and what we have.”
Burden, the star Missouri receiver who was the first of three Bears second-round rookies, is only getting better. He’s playing more than ever, too. After missing the Bengals game because of a concussion he suffered the week before, Burden played a career-high 48.5% of the Bears’ offensive snaps against the Giants. He played 44% of them last week against the Vikings, his second-highest usage rate of the year.
Burden has gone from playing 111 snaps in his first seven games to 66 in his last two. He cut into veteran Olamide Zaccheaus’ snaps Sunday. Zaccheaus played 57.4% of the Bears’ snaps against the Giants, but, after dropping two balls, played only 13.3% of their downs against the Vikings.
“You get what you earn,” Bears coach Ben Johnson said. “I think [Burden] has earned the increased snaps. You know it’s something we evaluate each week. What would his practice look like? How are these guys through the course of the week? Are they making plays or not? He’s steadily climbed.
“It’s the route running detail that’s showing up. The consistency and making sure his alignments are right, his assignments, he’s doing a real good job with that.”
That hasn’t always been the case. The Bears were frustrated by his mental mistakes during training camp, blaming them on the fact he missed most of the offseason program because of injuries.
“I come in here, put my head down, just work really hard, man, [and] get more opportunities on the field,” said Burden, who won’t turn 22 until next month. “My hard work is starting to pay off. …
“Obviously, everybody wants to play. You’ve got to come up here and put the work in.”
Burden has — and so have the Bears’ other offensive rookies.
The Bears are the only team in the NFL with a rookie running back who has more than 400 rushing yards, a rookie tight end with more than 300 receiving yards and a rookie receiver with more than 200 receiving yards.
First-round pick Colston Loveland’s 329 receiving yards ranks 20th among all tight ends — and 80th among all pass catchers. His 58-yard touchdown catch to beat the Bengals is probably the highlight of the Bears’ thrill-a-minute season.
Seventh-round pick Kyle Monangai ranks 30th in the NFL with 413 rushing yards despite being D’Andre Swift’s backup. His 176 rushing yards against the Bengals is the fifth-most anyone’s posted all season.
Even tackle Ozzy Trapilo is contributing. While the Bears’ offense line has remained intact for the last six games, Trapilo has played 32 snaps in the past month. All but one has come as an extra blocker.
The emergence of the Bears’ rookie class was part of the plan when the team leaned into adding offensive players — they took three in the first two rounds — despite needing help on the other side of the ball. Johnson wanted to assemble enough weapons that each week of practice would be a real competition for playing time and target share.
This is the time of year the Bears — and others — expected to see that strategy pay off.
“As you get to this stage of the season, some of these young talented people that people have a lot of draft capital invested in usually captures my attention,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin told reporters this week. “They’re usually finding their footing in this thing and their talents are starting to show up more consistently.”
Tomlin singled out Loveland and Burden by name, calling them “two lesser-known guys that really have my attention as I study and watch tape” of the Bears. Burden will get a chance to impress against the Steelers, who give up the most passing yards per game in the NFL.
Williams has started to trust him. Six of Burden’s 19 catches this season — and 8 of his 23 targets — have come the past two weeks.
“It means everything,” Burden said.
The most exciting part for the Bears is for what it means beyond this season. The Bears picture Burden — and Loveland and Monangai — growing alongside Williams.
The quarterback sees it, too.
“Luther’s a special talent and he’s a young cat, he’s growing,” Williams said. “So that relationship between him and I is going to grow constantly throughout the years.”
