After watching tape of Thursday night's 30-24 win over the Patriots, Bears coach Ben Johnson spoke with reporters virtually Friday about what stood out:

(1) Johnson praised receiver Luther Burden III's ability to gain yards after the catch, a skill he has displayed since arriving last year as a second-round pick.

Burden had four receptions for 130 yards and one touchdown — all in the first half on gains of 58, 26, 24 and 22 yards. The 24-yarder was a screen pass on third-and-15 that he caught behind the line of scrimmage and turned into a touchdown, zigzagging through the defense and picking up key blocks along the way.

"What's always stood out about him is he's elite with the ball in his hands," Johnson said. "It's just a matter of 'how can we get it to him,' certainly not a level where we're predictable, either. We don't want it to just be screens or underneath routes. He's got more to his game than that; he's got more speed than that, too.

"Last year, we were able to get him over the top a couple times, which was great to see. He's got that ability. I don't think that we've done that quite yet this year, yet that'd be a great thing to tap into. I'm encouraged by what I see with his intermediate routes and the detail with which he's playing in that regard."

Burden's screen pass TD was the result of all 11 offensive players on the field doing their jobs and gave the Bears a 20-7 lead with :14 remaining in the first half.

"It's great execution across the board," Johnson said. "And I think you've got to highlight [receiver] Kalif Raymond on the outside. We knew with that particular play, that those corners were going to be a factor. They like to knife those things and blow them up. That was all over the tape. Kalif did a great job getting that play started. Same with Colston [Loveland], and then of course our O-line leading the charge there. All it took was Luther finding a little sliver, and he was able to gas it right through there. So, huge play for us. We certainly needed those seven points."

(2) Burden wasn't the only pass catcher who stepped up to help the Bears improve to 5-2. Loveland had a season-high seven receptions for 69 yards, while receiver Rome Odunze caught four passes for 69 yards, highlighted by three key 21-yard catches on two fourth-quarter drives.

Quarterback Caleb Williams delivered a second straight stellar outing, passing for 308 yards with two TDs, no turnovers and a 116.7 passer rating.

"It was just a matter of time, really, before we got all these guys going," Johnson said. "When you throw for 300 yards, you end up having some guys stand out and feeling pretty good about their performances.

"[Burden] did a great job sparking us early on in that game, certainly in the first half; he was the story. Colston came on in the second half and helped us power through that third quarter, and to see Rome finish it out for us, that's kind of the vision. You don't know who is going to have the hot hand and where that ball's going to go, but we've got a number of pass catchers that can be dynamic playmakers when given the opportunities."

(3) Johnson confirmed that tight end Cole Kmet will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury he sustained midway through the fourth quarter.

The 2020 second-round pick from Notre Dame is the longest tenured player on the Bears roster. A Chicago area native who attended St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights, Kmet is beloved by coaches, teammates and fans alike.

"He's one of my favorites for a number of reasons," Johnson said. "I still remember him at the combine coming out and how much I loved him in that slight interaction we had there. To be able to be in the same room with him for the last year-and-a-half, I've got so much respect for the player that he is, but also the person, the leader. He's everything we want to be about here.

"He's one of the glue guys. He's one of the guys that I can count on, whether it's a messaging standpoint or getting the pulse of the team. He's going to be sorely missed. Really, he's Chicago. 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."

Before exiting Thursday night's game, Kmet caught three passes for 28 yards, increasing his career total to 3,026 yards. In the process, he joined Hall of Famer Mike Ditka as the only Bears tight ends to compile at least 3,000 yards.

(4) Johnson lauded a Bears run defense that limited the Patriots to 70 yards on 17 carries. Last Sunday, the unit held NFL leading rusher Bijan Robinson to a season-low 61 yards on nine attempts in a win over the Falcons.

"It starts with technique and fundamentals, and that's something that we've been harping on up front from the springtime," Johnson said. "I think we continue to improve in terms of our strike and our shed and our ability to bottle up and not create running lanes. We're setting the edge a little bit better as a defense, better than maybe we were to start the season.

"And then we talked about the playstyle. I think that's really what it comes down to. We want all 11 defenders in the frame at the end of the play. And when that happens, normally we have a pretty good run defense. We're going to continue to harp on those things.

"Schematically, 'DA' (defensive coordinator Dennis Allen) is doing a good job. He's always conscious of making sure that we're protected from explosive pass plays over the top of us. But at the same time, we want to knock teams off schedule as much as we can and slow down their running game so that these second-and-long, these third-down situations, that's really right in our wheelhouse."

(5) Moving forward, the defense will look to correct the miscues it made on the final play of the first half that resulted in a Patriots touchdown.

With :03 remaining and the ball at the Bears' 48, quarterback Drake Maye dumped off a short pass to running back Rhamondre Stevenson, who weaved through the defense for a touchdown that closed the gap to 20-14.

"There was some execution that we felt like, in terms of the rush, we need to be cleaner on," Johnson said. "It's one of those things, you work these situational plays so much over the course of camp, so much in the walkthroughs leading up into a game. It gets coached. It gets talked about. We rep it. We do it full speed over the course of the year. We do it slow. And so when that moment comes, we have to be at our best, and we simply weren't.

"We've got to continue to coach it better. And then at the end of the day, it's still about rallying to the football and making sure in the case like that, we find a way to get that ballcarrier down."