Bears

Bears TE Colston Loveland‘s popularity continues to grow, including among those in the organization who are seeing what he can do each day. Bears QB Caleb Williams referred to him as the best tight end in the NFL, and WR Rome Odunze said he has learned a lot from Loveland so far.

“He can do everything,” Williams said, via ESPN’s Courtney Cronin. “He can become the best tight end in the league; I think he is…Put it up there and give him a shot. He’s such a big target, easy target, runs the right routes and nice routes, and then other than that he can run block and disguise things. He’s an all-encompassing tight end.”

“He’s just a sponge right now,” HC Ben Johnson noted. “He wants all the information. He knows all this knowledge is going to make him a better player, and he’s going to continue to play faster.”

“Rare,” Odunze said when asked about Loveland’s versatility. “A diamond. It’s impressive just to see his route-running ability. It’s incredible. And then you get him down blocking and he’s holding his own like he’s a tackle. So his versatility is truly incredible. I’m super glad that he’s on the crew, and I learned a lot from him as well just from his movement and his fluidity in and out of his routes.”

Lions

Lions WR Isaac TeSlaa came into camp as the expected No.3 wide receiver behind Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams, and HC Dan Campbell said TeSlaa still has time to put it all together before the regular season.

“All it takes is a couple of wins,” Campbell said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “Just a couple of wins at critical times against some guys in practice and then in a game to all of a sudden — boom — skyrockets. It goes back up. So sometimes with a young player, it’s a little bit of that pendulum swing, so he’ll be fine. He’s going to be just fine.”

• Lions OL Michael Niese was carted off during the team’s preseason game and was seen on crutches in the locker room afterward. (Woodyard)

Packers

Packers RB MarShawn Lloyd went 1,014 days without scoring before he got into the end zone against Denver this preseason. Injuries have become the norm for Lloyd, who was happy to get points on the board even if they don’t officially count.

“It was special. It was fun,” Lloyd said of his score, via the team website. “It’s been three years since I even touched the end zone. I’ve been in the end zone in practice (but) in a game, it’s different. It was fun. They had their starters out there. It was fun to get those good reps.”                                               

“I think we did a good job,” Lloyd added. “We took care of the ball really well. There’s things we for sure have to work on and fix but starting the game I think we did pretty good as far as protecting the ball and taking what we can.”