Cole Kmet sidelined by season-ending knee injury, testing tight end depth for the Chicago Bears

CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Bears like their group of tight ends, and the position plays a major role in coach Ben Johnson's offense.

That depth is about to be tested.

Chicago will be without Cole Kmet for the rest of the season after he hurt his right knee on a reception with 5:34 left in Thursday night's 30-24 win over New England. It's the first major injury for Kmet since the Illinois native was selected by the Bears in the second round of the 2020 draft out of Notre Dame.

“He’s going to be sorely missed. Really, he’s Chicago,” Johnson said Friday. “He’s been here his whole life and he’s a big part of our heartbeat. So, it stinks, it does, I hate it for him, I hate it for his teammates as well. And yet the train keeps rolling along. Someone else has to step up.”

Kmet had just 10 catches for 87 yards and a touchdown in seven games this season, but his value to the Bears (5-2) goes beyond his personal numbers. He has been a dependable blocker for Chicago's potent rushing attack, and his versatility has created more flexibility with how the team deploys the rest of its tight ends.

Kmet's injury comes with Colston Loveland beginning to heat up after a slow start to the season. The second-year tight end has 13 receptions for 134 yards and two touchdowns in his last two games.

“He’s come on," Johnson said. “The target share’s gone up a little bit. He’s done a really nice job. He’s getting open.”

Kmet's absence likely means a bigger role for rookie Sam Roush, a third-round pick in the draft out of Stanford. The Bears also have Stephen Carlson and Qadir Ismail on their practice squad, and Hayden Large could be activated at some point after beginning the season on injured reserve.

Roush, 23, has three receptions for 33 yards in seven games.

“We’ve been very pleased with the improvement that he’s made over these first seven weeks,” Johnson said. “There’s a high likelihood that his rep count is going to go up as a result of what’s going on here. ... Very smart player. He had some rookie hiccups early in the season, like everybody does, and yet he learns. He doesn’t make the same mistake twice.”

Caleb Williams posted another impressive performance in his second game back since being sidelined by a right hamstring injury. He was 22 for 33 for 308 yards and two touchdowns.

Williams became the third quarterback in franchise history to throw for 300-plus yards in back-to-back wins, joining Sid Luckman in 1947 and Billy Wade in 1962.

There has been some inconsistency with Chicago's secondary. The Bears allowed Jordan Love to pass for 367 yards and two touchdowns in a 31-7 loss at Green Bay on Oct. 11, and they also struggled with Drake Maye in the win over New England. Maye threw for 321 yards and two TDs.

Rome Odunze had three receptions for 63 yards — in the fourth quarter. He had six catches for 79 yards over the previous two games combined.

The 24-year-old Odunze played a major role in Chicago's drive to Cairo Santos' 58-yard field goal with 1:34 left. With the Bears facing third-and-9 from their own 10, Odunze made a terrific catch on a 21-yard gain. After D’Andre Swift lost 2 yards on a first-down carry, Odunze had another 21-yard reception.

Jaylon Johnson had a rough night. The cornerback whiffed when he tried to tackle Maye on a 15-yard scramble with 3:32 left in the second quarter. He had a similar issue on Rhamondre Stevenson's 48-yard touchdown reception on the final play of the first half. He also was called for pass interference on New England's last drive of the game.

Besides Kmet's departure against the Patriots, Chicago also lost cornerback Malik Muhammad to a toe injury. There was no update on his status on Friday.

71% — Williams' 71% completion rate ranks second in the NFL among qualified passers, going into this weekend's action. He completed 58.1% of his passes last season.

The Bears don’t play again until they visit Seattle on Nov. 2. The last time the teams played, Jason Myers kicked two first-half field goals to send the Seahawks to an ugly 6-3 win at Soldier Field on Dec. 26, 2024. Following the trip to Seattle, the Bears host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Nov. 8.

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Chicago Bears tight end Cole Kmet (85) gives a thumbs up as he is carted off the field after suffering an injury during the second half of an NFL football game against the New England Patriots in Chicago, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago Bears tight end Cole Kmet (85) catches a pass and is tackled by New England Patriots' Robert Spillane (14) and Christian Gonzalez, right, during the second half of an NFL football game in Chicago, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago Bears tight end Cole Kmet (85) holds his right leg after suffering an injury on a pass play during the second half of an NFL football game against the New England Patriots in Chicago, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago Bears' Sam Roush (87) reaches out to Cole Kmet (85) as he is carted off the field after suffering an injury on a pass play during the second half of an NFL football game against the New England Patriots in Chicago, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago Bears tight end Cole Kmet (85) is carted off the field after suffering an injury on a pass play during the second half of an NFL football game against the New England Patriots in Chicago, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

The Oregon man who fatally shot a teenage gunman to end a deadly rampage at an elementary school last week says he was the children's “last line of defense” and that he regrets not arriving soon enough to save them all.

Kaylub Giamanco, whose two daughters attend Silver Rail Elementary, where the Oct. 15 attack occurred, said he feels like he failed the families of those who died.

“I want to apologize for not saving their babies, that’s probably the biggest thing for me right now,” Giamanco told Oregon Public Broadcasting in an interview published Friday. “The gratitude for saving people’s children is awesome. But there were ones that I didn’t save.”

Three children — ages 5, 8 and 11 — and a teacher were killed at the school in Bend, Oregon, last week when a former student there, 16-year-old Griffin J. John II, blasted his way through locked doors with a shotgun and attacked a special needs classroom. Another student was critically injured and a teacher was injured and hospitalized.

Police say another teacher threw her phone at the attacker and wrestled with him before Giamanco shot and killed him after following the gunman into the building.

Giamanco said he dropped off his daughters at the school that morning before driving to work. A few hours later, the 36-year-old carpenter was passing the school again as he was heading home for lunch.

He said he spotted someone wearing black and carrying a long gun fire shots into a pickup truck and at a person mowing the school's lawn before the shooter climbed a fence and headed toward the school building.

Giamanco said “panic fled into my brain.” He grabbed a .40-caliber handgun from his truck's center console and went after the gunman as he dialed 911. He asked the dispatcher to send help before hanging up his phone.

“I said 'I’m sorry I have to go in. People are going to die,'” Giamanco said in the interview.

As he got closer to the building, Giamanco said, he lay on his stomach and used his elbows to crawl across the ground.

“That’s when I started hearing children pleading for their lives,” he said. “And then I started hearing gunfire and I just started army crawling faster and faster. And I told myself: 'This is probably the last thing that I’m ever going to do.'”

Giamanco said he entered the school through a window that had been shot out. Peeking into a nearby classroom, he saw a teacher grappling with the shooter. He said he faced them both in profile, giving him an open shot.

“I felt like I was the last line of defense between him and the rest of the children,” Giamanco said.

He swung the door open, stepped into the room and fired his gun.

Both the gunman and the teacher dropped to the floor. The teacher bolted from the room as the shooter reached for his shotgun.

“He was scrambling for his weapon,” Giamanco said. “I looked at him and I shot him two more times to make sure that he couldn’t move, because I was afraid of him shooting anybody else.”

Police have said Giamanco was carrying his gun legally in his truck and have credited him and the unarmed teacher who confronted the gunman with saving lives. A day after the shootings, President Donald Trump said that Giamanco was a “great hero” who “took care of business.”

A second teacher in the classroom, Becky Drury, said in a statement Wednesday that she lay on the floor, helplessly playing dead, after being struck at close range by a shotgun blast that nearly severed her left hand.

The teacher who struggled with the shooter hasn't been publicly identified. Giamanco told the public broadcaster that she's “a real true hero” whose actions gave him an opening to kill the attacker.

“I can’t tell you what it feels like to take a life … but I can tell you that I genuinely feel like I was supposed to be there,” Giamanco said. “If I wasn’t there, I just don’t know what would have happened.”

Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia.

Kaylub Giamanco, who fatally shot an attacker who had killed three students and a teacher at Silver Rail Elementary School, reacts as he sits for an interview on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026 in Bend, Ore. (Saskia Hatvany/Oregon Public Broadcasting via AP)

Kaylub Giamanco, who fatally shot an attacker who had killed three students and a teacher at Silver Rail Elementary School, poses for a portrait on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026 in Bend, Ore. (Saskia Hatvany/Oregon Public Broadcasting via AP)

Kaylub Giamanco, who fatally shot an attacker who had killed three students and a teacher at Silver Rail Elementary School, poses for a portrait on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026 in Bend, Ore. (Saskia Hatvany/Oregon Public Broadcasting via AP)

Children place flowers at a makeshift memorial outside Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Ore., Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, a day after a deadly shooting. (AP Photo/Joe Kline)

Police tape is placed outside Silver Rail Elementary school, where a shooting took place, on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026 in Bend, Ore. (AP Photo/Joe Kline)