Behind-the-scenes work reveals how Colston Loveland and Caleb Williams forged their game-winning connection, building trust through countless extra reps.
The Chicago Bears have a special player in tight end Colston Loveland.
Loveland was taken by the Bears at 10th overall in the 2025 NFL Draft out of Michigan. The legend of "3rd and Colston" slowly grew throughout the 2025 season, with the tight end becoming a safety valve for Caleb Williams on critical third downs or whenever the offense needed a big play.
Head coach Ben Johnson knew from the get-go that Loveland was a special player. Johnson met with Loveland previously at the NFL Combine, but it was at Michigan's Pro Day where the head coach got a really good idea of who the tight end was off the field.
Loveland compared himself to Detroit Lions tight end Sam LaPorta, and it was at that point that Johnson knew what he had in the former Michigan standout.
The Bears' faith in Loveland paid off, as he led the team with 713 receiving yards and six touchdowns. Even after the regular season, he kept his high level of production going.
In the comeback win over the Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card, Loveland finished with 137 receiving yards, as Caleb Williams continued to find the rookie when the team needed it most.
Even though it looked like Williams and Loveland were improving most of the time in those big moments, it actually was something they had practiced many times before throughout the season.
Loveland shared that he and Williams put in a ton of work after practice, starting in Week 4, going over routes and making sure they got plenty of reps. Loveland wasn't able to work with Williams over the summer, but made up for it as a rookie.
"It was definitely a long time coming, because I wasn't able to get with him in the summer," Loveland said. "After practices, it really started like Week 4; we hit every route we needed to hit. If we missed it in practice, we hit it. If we didn't even get the rep in practice, we hit it. Just so we had banked reps on everything. You know, we'd have third-down days, base-down days, red zone days, and we'd get all those reps so that when it came down to game time, it was easy."
After this recent revelation from Loveland, it's no wonder that he and Williams were able to establish a connection this early on in his NFL career. This kind of work ethic is going to carry Loveland through his time in the pros.
It's just like Johnson says, "Good, better, best." Loveland is the epitome of that phrase, and it's what made him stand out to General Manager Ryan Poles.