After a rough loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 2, Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson sent a message to offensive skill position players that stood out. He also revealed a plan to get rookies Luther Burden and Colston Loveland more involved going forward, and Week 3 against the Dallas Cowboys would be the start of that idea.
An early hip injury against the Cowboys derailed getting Loveland more involved, but Burden had a breakthrough game with 101 yards on three catches along with one rushing attempt for seven yards. A 65-yard touchdown on a flea-flicker skews things, but Burden's impact was noticeable.
Burden played just 17 of the Bears' 59 offensive snaps against Dallas. So while it won't be easy to navigate with so many mouths to feed in the offense, there's room for him to be more involved moving forward.
How can Luther Burden elevate the Bears' offense?
After his big game against the Cowboys, Trevor Sikkema of Pro Football Focus took a look at how Burden can find his place in the Bears' offense as a complement to wide receivers Rome Odunze and DJ Moore.
"When you look at the rest of the route tree that the Bears’ receivers are asked to run, Odunze’s top two routes are ins (16.7%) and outs (16.7%), showcasing him as their most consistent intermediate receiver – which is also a big reason why he has the most targets. For Moore, his most run routes are ins (16.4%) and go routes (17.9%). Moore runs more vertical routes than Odunze, and when Moore scored his highest receiving grade of his Bears career in 2023 (89.5), he ran mostly go routes (19.1%). However, an underrated part of that 2023 season was that Moore also had Chase Claypool and Tyler Scott run a ton of vertical routes to keep the defense honest as well. The 2025 version of that deep threat duo could now be Burden, as go, deep posts and deep corner routes accounted for 66.5% of his routes in Week 3."
"Odunze feels like he’s going to be the Bears' high-target man this season as their top intermediate and sideline receiver. Though Moore can do it all as well, his best years have come when offenses let him attack deep. Nonetheless, in order to really get open downfield, the Bears have to put stress on the defense and not let them key in on Moore when he’s running routes beyond 20 yards. Burden showed flashes of being another deep threat option that opposing teams must cover. This opens up Moore down the field, Odunze at the sidelines, and the tight end passing game over the middle."
Burden's college tape made it easy to pigeonhole him as a short-area, after-the-catch type of receiver entering this year's draft. He shouldn't be pigeonholed in any fashion, but within the current dynamic of the Bears' offense, Sikkema landed on an impactful niche for the rookie from here on out this season.
"Continued success as a deep threat for Burden could hold the key to the Bears being one of the top passing attacks in the league."
Read more: Rome Odunze has quickly taken his place among the best wide receivers in the NFL
With how low he is in the pecking order for targets right now, Burden's impact won't always be reflected by the ball coming his way. But if he's another piece of the Bears' offense who must be accounted for, and the signs from Week 3 point to just that, everything else for everyone else will get easier.