How Colston Loveland gives Ben Johnson's Bears a true wild card

Asking the linebacker to do all of that against a tight end like Loveland, a player who is fast and runs excellent routes but has size, is a huge demand.

Another aspect of the mismatch Warner saw hasn't been discussed as much but it's how Johnson wants to burn defenses with play-action passing or its alter ego, also known as the running game.

"Then, you're building an offensive line, you've got a Ben Johnson that loves to play-action, right?" Warner told Spiegel & Holmes. "Giving those linebackers that have to cover an athletic tight end some sort of run fake, some sort of visual that says we're going to run the football, to make them hesitate while having this athletic guy, gives them an advantage right there."

Warner went to the third level of this situation with personnel packages.

"If we can put Cole Kmet and Loveland on the field at the same time (12-personnel) that's going to force more of a big (defensive) package, a linebacker-driven package by the defense," Warner postulated. "Now we can split, you know, one guy out and he can have some of those wide receiver elements. And you can put  defenses in a bind. You can put them in space."

The defense must make a choice to cover a faster tight end who can actually line up at wide receiver.

"They need a cornerback to cover him, so now you can put DJ Moore in the slot and now he's covered by a linebacker," Warner said.

It's a situation that could have Moore foaming at the mouth, if not Caleb Williams, too. Perhaps they just have Luther Burden III in the slot and his 4.40-second 40-yard speed.

"There's so many different elements because of that mismatch that can play out in terms of the scheme that you run, can play out in terms of the personnel that you run, or even the formations that you want them to get into to give favorable matchups for the different guys in different ways," Warner said.

With this kind of edge, about the only thing the Bears might be lacking is the power back to help take advantage of some of the situations when the defense chooses to leave extra DBs on the field to contend with Loveland.

A fast back alone won't do this. The power guy can really make a defense pay with smaller defensive personnel packages on the field.

Perhaps GM Ryan Poles gets to work soon finding that piece for the backfield, or they arrive at the conclusion they've had this piece all along in Roschon Johnson.