{"id":1099,"section":"sports","section_label":"Sports","url":"https://www.brokenews.co/sports/1099","headline":"Bears lose Cole Kmet for the season with knee injury","dek":"Chicago's longest-tenured player was carted off during Thursday's 30-24 win over the Patriots.","body":"Cole Kmet's 2026 season is over. Coach Ben Johnson confirmed Friday that the Bears tight end will miss the rest of the year with what the team is calling a serious right knee injury, suffered in the fourth quarter of Chicago's 30-24 win over New England on Thursday night.\n\nKmet couldn't put weight on the leg and had to be carted off the field. He finished the night with three catches for 28 yards. For the season, he had 10 catches, 87 yards and one touchdown, numbers that undersell what he means to this team.\n\nKmet is a Lake Barrington, Illinois native and the longest-tenured player on the Bears roster. He has missed just one game across seven seasons, appearing in 107 of a possible 108 before Thursday's injury ended that streak.\n\nJohnson did not hide his disappointment. \"He's everything we want to be about here,\" the coach said. \"He's going to be sorely missed. He's Chicago. He's been here his whole life. He's a big part of our heartbeat. It stinks. It does. I hate it for him.\"\n\nThe Bears will now have to adjust their offense without one of their most established and dependable players for the remainder of the season.","published_at":"2026-10-23T21:20:16.299438+00:00","source_count":6,"written_from":[{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Bears TE Cole Kmet will miss rest of season with knee injury: ‘It stinks. I hate it for him.’","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/bears-te-cole-kmet-miss-201800582.html"},{"outlet":"ESPN","publisher":"ESPN","title":"Bears TE Kmet to be 'sorely missed' after season-ending knee injury","url":"https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/50259989/bears-te-cole-kmet-season-knee-injury-vs-pats"},{"outlet":"CBS Sports","publisher":"CBS Sports","title":"Bears fear season-ending injury for Cole Kmet after veteran tight end is carted off field","url":"https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/bears-cole-kmet-season-ending-knee-injury/"},{"outlet":"The Athletic","publisher":"The Athletic","title":"Bears TE Cole Kmet's season over because of 'serious knee injury'","url":"https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7717473/2026/10/23/cole-kmet-injury-bears-tight-end/"},{"outlet":"Pro Football Talk","publisher":"NBC Sports","title":"Report: Cole Kmet likely out for season with knee injury","url":"https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/report-cole-kmet-likely-out-for-season-with-knee-injury"},{"outlet":"New York Post","publisher":"New York Post","title":"Bears suffer devastating Cole Kmet injury: ‘I don’t have the words’","url":"https://nypost.com/2026/10/23/sports/bears-suffer-devastating-cole-kmet-injury-i-dont-have-the-words/"}],"more_coverage":[{"outlet":"Pro Football Talk","publisher":"NBC Sports","title":"Bears TE Cole Kmet carted off with a knee injury","url":"https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/bears-te-cole-kmet-carted-off-with-a-knee-injury"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Bears TE Cole Kmet carted off with a knee injury","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/bears-te-cole-kmet-carted-031033568.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Bears TE Cole Kmet carted off with knee injury","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/bears-te-cole-kmet-carted-031905517.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Cole Kmet injury update: Bears’ TE carted off field with knee injury","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/cole-kmet-injury-bears-te-031731958.html"},{"outlet":"ESPN","publisher":"ESPN","title":"Kmet injures knee, carted off late in Bears' win","url":"https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/50254858/bears-te-cole-kmet-exits-late-vs-patriots-knee-injury"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Cole Kmet injury updates as Bears TE carted off on 'Thursday Night Football'","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/cole-kmet-injury-updates-bears-034620075.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Cole Kmet exits Week 7 game against New England","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/cole-kmet-exits-week-7-040730964.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Ben Johnson reacts to Bears TE Cole Kmet's knee injury","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/ben-johnson-reacts-bears-te-043504518.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Cole Kmet Injury: Former Notre Dame TE Gets Scary Outlook After Knee Injury","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/cole-kmet-injury-former-notre-060533975.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Bears’ Caleb Williams pours heart out to Cole Kmet after possibly serious knee injury","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/bears-caleb-williams-pours-heart-081639130.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Cole Kmet injury update: Latest on Bears tight end after getting carted off","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/cole-kmet-injury-latest-bears-112227341.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Latest update on Bears TE Cole Kmet's knee injury","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/latest-bears-te-cole-kmets-132103670.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Bears bracing for loss of TE Cole Kmet, their senior offensive player, to knee injury","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/bears-bracing-loss-te-cole-154200339.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Bears TE Cole Kmet believed to have suffered season-ending knee injury","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/bears-te-cole-kmet-believed-154741260.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Report: Cole Kmet likely out for season with knee injury","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/report-cole-kmet-likely-season-155359523.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Bears TE Cole Kmet's knee injury reportedly could be season ending","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/article/bears-te-cole-kmets-knee-injury-reportedly-could-be-season-ending-160229467.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Report: Bears tight end Cole Kmet’s injury is ‘likely’ season-ending","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/report-bears-tight-end-cole-163648909.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Cole Kmet’s injury update spells bad news for Bears","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/cole-kmet-injury-spells-bad-170617306.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Bears TE Cole Kmet out for the season after suffering knee injury vs. Patriots","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/article/bears-te-cole-kmet-out-for-the-season-after-suffering-knee-injury-vs-patriots-182050987.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Bears’ Cole Kmet officially lands on IR after suffering injury vs. Patriots","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/bears-cole-kmet-officially-lands-193243916.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Cole Kmet Update: Why Bears $50 Million TE Won’t Catch Another Pass in 2026","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/cole-kmet-why-bears-50-214100756.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Chicago Bears TE Cole Kmet out for the season, coach Johnson says","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/chicago-bears-te-cole-kmet-221255984.html"}],"image":{"url":"https://nbcsports.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/603282f/2147483647/strip/false/crop/1920x1080+0+0/resize/1920x1080!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fhdliveextra-a.akamaihd.net%2FHD%2Fimage_sports%2FNBCU_Sports_Group_-_nbcsports%2F385%2F631%2Fnbc_pft_williamspresser_261023.jpg","credit":"Pro Football Talk","width":1920},"embed":null,"license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","attribution":"Analysis data is licensed CC BY 4.0. Credit brokenews and link to the story page you took it from. Source headlines, story titles taken from a source headline, and quoted passages remain the property of their publishers and are quoted for comparison, not licensed onward.","terms":"https://www.brokenews.co/about#reuse"}