The Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings all made the playoffs in the 2024 NFL season. The only NFC North team to sit back and watch the postseason from the couch was the Chicago Bears, who won just five games against 12 losses.
With the Bears finishing so low in the overall NFL standings, they got a high pick in the 2025 NFL draft and used their No. 10 selection to take Michigan Wolverines star tight end Colston Loveland.
The Bears have high hopes for Loveland, who helped the Wolverines win the national title in the 2023 college football season.
In three seasons with Michigan football, Loveland racked up 1,466 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns on 117 receptions through 39 games.
The 21-year-old Loveland is an intriguing weapon for Chicago that should have the rest of the NFL — not just the Packers and the others in the division — will have to be wary of.
Standing 6-foot-6 with a 79-inch wingspan, Loveland pairs his physical tools with athleticism. He has been scouted as an elite route-runner with CBS Sports pointing out that only “7% of Loveland’s targets in 2024 came on screens.”
It won’t be surprising to see Loveland eventually takeover the TE1 role for Chicago, even with Cole Kmet still on the team.
Bears TE converts relative from a Green Bay Packers fan to Chicago supporter
A native of Gooding, Idaho, Loveland grew up with a classmate and best friend, Cooper Pavkov.
“When Colston says everyone he grew up with is better, that’s true,” Pavkov said (via Steve Greenberg of the Chicago Sun-Times). “We grew up doing the same things — we always rode together — but when somebody just does it in their pastime, like with anything else, you’re going to separate from them. Just like Colston separated from the rest of us in football.”
Another interesting note about Pavkov is how he was converted by Loveland into a Bears fan after growing up as a Green Bay supporter.
“I was a Packers fan growing up,” shared Pavkov. “Man, I want to be there when the Bears play at Lambeau Field. I do have a new Bears jersey.”
It sure will be an interesting time for Loveland and Pavkov when the Bears and the Packers face off in Week 14 and Week 16 of the 2025 NFl season.
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