LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Cole Kmet isn't used to watching from the sidelines. The Bears star tight end has rarely left the field when healthy and should be a vital piece of a 2024 offense with high expectations with quarterback Caleb Williams and a ton of weapons.
But Kmet spent 52 percent of the plays during the Bears' Week 1 win over the Tennessee Titans on the sideline. Kmet played just 27 of the Bears' 56 offensive snaps in Week 1 as offensive coordinator Shane Waldron opted to deploy new tight end Gerald Everett as his tight end in 11 personnel (one back, one tight end, three receivers).
The Bears gave Kmet a four-year, $50 million extension last offseason, and he has been tabbed as a foundational piece of the current rebuild. Along with wide receivers DJ Moore, Keenan Allen, and Rome Odunze, Kmet should be a focal point of a 2024 Bears passing attack with explosive potential.
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But on Sunday, he mainly watched from the sidelines as the Bears' offense spun its wheels and relied on the defense to bail them out.
"Obviously, I wasn't thrilled about it," Kmet said Wednesday at Halas Hall about his lack of playing time. "But it's not something that I can control, and I'm not in control of. The thing I can control is how I operate while I'm out there and how I execute and what I put on film with the snaps that I do get.
"Look, it is what it is. I'm kind of going to chalk it up to Week 1 and us trying to figure some things out, especially with all the guys we have in here. We got a lot of guys, and I know that we want to be able to use everybody in a certain way. We want to be able to play to their strengths. Kind of just leave it up to that, but I just got to kind of continue to take care of my business. I can't be in the woes is me deal. That's not good for anybody. I can continue coming here and have a good attitude about it and we'll just see where it goes."
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Head coach Matt Eberflus said that the Bears' decision to prioritize Everett over Kmet in Week 1 was just how the rotation played out and not something to read into.
"Certainly, do we want to get Cole involved in the game plan more in terms of catches and point-of-attack blocking and all those things? Yes, yes, we do," Eberflus said. "But we’re looking for our formula for success on offense, and again, that’s going to take a little bit of time in terms of distributing the ball to the skill more evenly, and we’re working to do that this week."
Kmet understands that the offense's performance wasn't anywhere close to the standard, and it's up to him to play well enough that the coaches don't want to take him off the field.
"I don't need an explanation," Kmet said. "At the end of the day, the showing wasn't what we wanted offensively. We'll have to adjust off that. But I don't need an explanation. I'm just going to keep going out there and putting good stuff on tape.
"I said this the other day: This is the best I've felt heading into a season, the most in shape I've felt and there's numbers to back that show that. It's the most explosive I've felt. Feel really good with my physicality in the run game. I just got to keep doing that stuff, keep putting that on tape, and it will show for itself."
Given Waldron's history and familiarity with Everett, it's easy to see why he might have felt more comfortable with him as he searched for answers mid-game.
But the Bears will need Kmet to be on the field and productive to reach their potential this season. If Waldron wanted answers about why his offense couldn't get out of the starting blocks, he could have started by glancing over to see the Bears' $50 million tight end spending more time next to him than being an asset for both Williams and the run game.
That needs to change Sunday when the Bears travel to Houston to face the Texans on "Sunday Night Football."