Something about the Bears just feels ... off? ... right now. For the better part of the last half decade, they've been a pretty consistent laughing stock. Every year they absolutely crush the offseason – they are, after all, back-to-back-to-back offseason champs – and then end up winning five games. It'd be more maddening if it wasn't such a common occurrence in Chicago.
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But things feel different now. Call it the Ben Johnson affect, or call it 'the usual point in the offseason where Bears fans always end up finding themselves year after year' but something about where the Bears are right now feels unprecedented. Is that what hope is? Why are colors suddenly more vibrant? Did you know how beautiful flowers are?!
And even though there's still a fair amount of Bears fans who are probably licking their wounds over their Tyler Warren mocks getting absolutely shredded within the first 45 minutes of Thursday night, it sure seems like the Colston Loveland pick is already aging terrifically. In a recent roundup from The Athletic that features random thoughts from random NFL execs, the Bears were (almost) universally praised for the pick, and the reasoning will get you *so* stoked for that first week of really crappy cell phone training camp videos.
NFL execs may like the Bears' Colston Loveland pick more than Bears fans
"Loveland is going to catch a million balls,” an exec said. “He will be better than (Sam) LaPorta. He is such a good receiver, and he’s bigger — two inches taller and another 10 pounds. They will have an 11 personnel package with Burden in the slot and the 12 package when Burden is off the field with Loveland and Kmet on the field. They are set up pretty well" ... “Your first pick is in some way a statement about what this team needs and how they are going to play and how they are going to win,” another exec said. “(Loveland) is an interesting choice, and I think you can tell it was coach-driven.”
A million balls! That's got to be close to the rookie record. The fact that we're already assuming he's going to be better than his obvious NFL comp is great news, even if the executive who made that claim is absolutely, totally, extremely employed by the Chicago Bears.
Mark it down: by the time Loveland lines up for his first regular season snaps, he'll already be better than Pro Bowl tight end Sam LaPorta and will be well on his way to a million catches. Johnson really is an offensive genius.