The Chicago Bears hung on for a hard-fought 30-24 victory over the defending AFC champion New England Patriots on Thursday night at Soldier Field. But the win proved an extremely costly one that left the Bears’ locker room shaken.
Seven-year veteran tight end Cole Kmet walked into Thursday night’s game against New England as the Bears’ most senior offensive player. He left on a medical cart with a right knee injury that is believed to be season-ending, according to NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport.
Further tests Friday will set the exact diagnosis and timeline, and the 5-2 Bears now have to wonder how much of their tight end depth went down with him.
The injury came in the fourth quarter of Chicago’s 30-24 win. Kmet caught an 8-yard pass from quarterback Caleb Williams on second-and-9 from the Bears’ own 10-yard line, with Chicago holding a six-point lead, according to a Chicago Sun-Times report.
Then the knee gave out. Early accounts described a tackle, but Rapoport later clarified that video shows the knee buckling before any defender touched him.
Former San Diego Chargers team physician Dr. David Chao reached a more specific conclusion after rewatching the play via video replay. Kmet “tears his right knee ACL at the 15-yard line before contact,” Chao wrote Friday morning on his social media channels. It should be noted that Chao has not examined Kmet, and the Bears have not announced a diagnosis.
Kmet went down immediately, and teammates and coaches gathered around him. He eventually left the field on a cart, flashing a thumbs-up to the crowd on the way into the tunnel. The Bears ruled him out moments later. He finished with three catches for 28 yards.
Bears coach Ben Johnson offered little detail about the injury after the game, and what he did say sounded grim. “We’ll know a little more tomorrow, but I don’t think it looks very good,” Johnson said. Kmet exited Soldier Field with a full brace on the leg.
Cole Kmet’s Career and Contract With the Chicago Bears
Kmet, 27, arrived in Chicago as the 43rd overall pick in the second round of the 2020 draft out of Notre Dame, according to RotoWire. He stands 6-foot-6 and weighs 257 pounds.
He has rarely missed time. Kmet has sat out just one game in six NFL seasons, according to RotoWire. His best year came in 2023, when he caught 73 passes for 719 yards and six touchdowns. Chicago then used the No. 10 overall pick in 2025 on tight end Colston Loveland, and Kmet’s production dipped to 30 catches for 347 yards.
This season, Kmet has 10 catches for 87 yards and a touchdown through seven games. Blocking is where he has stood out. No NFL tight end had logged more blocking snaps than Kmet’s 197 through Week 6, according to Pro Football Focus data.
Kmet signed a four-year, $50 million contract extension in July 2023, according to RotoWire. The deal averages $12.5 million per season and runs through 2027, which would send him into unrestricted free agency in 2028. His 2026 cap hit sits near $7.775 million, climbing to roughly $15.4 million in 2027.
What Cole Kmet’s Injury Means for Bears Offense
Colston Loveland remains the lead pass-catching tight end, but Kmet anchors the run-blocking in Johnson’s multiple-tight-end sets. Third-round rookie Sam Roush, a Stanford product, now moves into the No. 2 role, according to Sports Illustrated.
Roush has not drawn a target in any of the last three games. Stephen Carlson, an eight-year veteran on the practice squad, stands as the fallback option.
Kmet has also been Williams’s teammate for every one of the quarterback’s NFL seasons.
“I don’t have the words to describe what Cole is to me, what Cole is to this team and this organization,” Williams was quoted as saying after the win. The quarterback added that he plans to stand by Kmet through every step of the recovery, whatever the diagnosis turns out to be.
Chicago has time to regroup. The Bears do not play again until Monday night of Week 8, 11 days after the Patriots game. The break also gives rookie cornerback Malik Muhammad, who left the game with a toe injury in the third quarter, a window to heal.
Friday’s results will show whether Chao’s read on the ACL holds up, and whether the Bears move Kmet to injured reserve.
Bears Get Disastrous Cole Kmet Injury News From NFL Insider