Chicago Bears face a dilemma as Cole Kmet injury opens door for struggling rookie

The Chicago Bears enter this Friday with a 5-2 record, coming off an impressive victory over the New England Patriots.

On offense, the group looked great once again, but they’ll be without a key member of the group for the rest of the season. Tight end Cole Kmet suffered a knee injury in the third quarter and, as a result, will miss the rest of the 2026-27 season.

This is a brutal blow for the Bears, as Kmet was one of the best blockers on the team. He also provided great depth behind starter Colston Loveland and was the true heart and soul in the locker room.

“I’ve got so much respect for the player that he is, but also the person, the leader. He’s everything we want to be about here. He’s one of the glue guys.” Johnson continued praising Kmet, “He’s one of the guys that I can count on, whether it’s a messaging standpoint or getting the pulse of the team. He’s going to be sorely missed. Really, he’s Chicago.”

Luckily for the Bears, they used a third-round pick on another tight end in this past offseason’s draft. Sam Roush was drafted 69th overall from the University of Stanford, in what many thought was a puzzling pick. Roush has made the news for all the wrong reasons in the early part of his NFL career, but he has the chance to redeem himself now.

Sam Roush will need to step up in a big way for the Chicago Bears

The reason for the Chicago Bears selecting Roush earlier this year was his blocking ability.

He only caught 119 passes for 1,201 yards and four touchdowns over his four-year collegiate career, which is far from impressive. However, his pass protection and ability to be a solid run blocker are why he made the team. It was still a reach in the third round when you look at where he was projected to go.

Today, Ben Johnson addressed the media about Cole Kmet’s injury and also gave his thoughts on Roush going forward. The hope is that he can fill in Kmet’s spot nicely, or else the Bears may need to grab another tight end.

“We’ve been very pleased with the improvement he’s made over the first few weeks. He had some rookie hiccups, as everybody does, but he doesn’t make the same mistake twice.”

Johnson continued, stating that Roush will certainly get more reps now that Kmet is done for the season.

“We’ll be able to see the player that we drafted. We had high hopes when we took him. I’m confident in what he’s going to be able to do for us back half of the season.”

Roush has made some key mistakes this season, including a huge dropped touchdown against the Vikings. Just a few plays after, Caleb Williams suffered his hamstring injury. He also made some silly mistakes on special teams, and some costly penalties as well. He’ll need to clean these issues up, and in a hurry, as the Bears are likely to have little patience with him at this point.

More: Chicago Bears get positive injury news on key offensive weapon

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Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-bears-cole-kmet-replaced-by-sam-roush-bigger-role/