Luther Burden — Week 2: Seven Targets, Four From Bagent
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 21
Burden led the Bears with 7 targets and caught 3 for 32 yards, all three in the final minute from Tyson Bagent. Caleb Williams threw his way three times without a completion, including the first-quarter interception by Byron Murphy on third and twelve, in a 9–3 loss to the Vikings.
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Nine to three, Vikings, one minute left, Chicago at its own 35 with no timeouts and Tyson Bagent at quarterback for the injured Caleb Williams. First down: short left to Luther Burden, six yards, pushed out at the 41. Second and four: deep middle to Burden, 18 yards to the Minnesota 41. +1.1 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and 8.4 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it. After a spike and a 21-yard catch by Rome Odunze, Burden again, eight yards short right to the Minnesota 12. Then second and two with 10 seconds left, short left for Burden, incomplete; the replay official reviewed it and the ruling stood. Two snaps later the game ended on a sack.
The line: seven targets, three catches, 32 yards, one first down, −3.6 expected points on his targets, 87 air yards. Every catch came in that last minute. The three targets from Williams were all incomplete, and one was intercepted: third and 12 at the Chicago 40 with a minute 47 left in the first quarter, tied at three, deep middle, 24 yards in the air, picked off by Byron Murphy at the Minnesota 36. −2.0 expected points. The others were deep right on first and 10 from the Chicago 40 with 33 seconds left in the third quarter, and short left on third and seven from the Chicago 43 on the first snap of the fourth, which brought on a punt. Both of his third-down targets failed. One target before halftime, six after.
Seven targets led the Bears, ahead of five each to D'Andre Swift and Kalif Raymond, four to Odunze, three each to Colston Loveland and Sam Roush, two to Kyle Monangai and one to Cole Kmet. From Williams alone the order was different: five to Raymond, four to Swift, three to Burden.
Back in June the preview's call on Burden was overpriced: the 20-first receiver off the board on about four targets a game as a rookie, a price that needed him to roughly double the volume. Week 1 was five targets, five catches, 63 yards and a lost fumble. This week was seven. 12 targets in two games is six a game, above the rookie number and short of double. The catch is where the seven came from: four of them in one minute from the backup, down six, and the starter's three produced an interception and no catches. The volume ticked up, and how much it means depends on who is throwing; the play-by-play says only that Williams was injured on a fourth-quarter sack. Chicago is home to the Eagles on Monday the 20-eighth.
_Data via nflverse._
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