Colston Loveland Jersey: The Story Behind #84
The Bears open the 2026 season on September 13 at Carolina, and the tight end who finished last January as Chicago's leading receiver goes into it as a starter instead of a rookie. Colston Loveland wears 84. We pack Bears jerseys most days of the week, and that number has gone from something people had to look up in the spring of 2025 to something they now ask for by name.
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The rookie season that put 84 into circulation
Chicago took Loveland out of Michigan with the tenth overall pick in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft. He played 16 games with 11 starts and caught 58 passes for 713 yards and six touchdowns, which led every Bears pass catcher that season. He was the first rookie to lead the franchise in receiving since Willie Gault in 1983, and the first rookie tight end to do it since Mike Ditka in 1961. The game that made people notice came in Week 9 at Cincinnati: 188 receiving yards and two touchdowns, one of them a 58-yard catch that won the game. He was named NFC Offensive Player of the Week for it.
Eight catches, 137 yards, one January night
On January 10, 2026, the Bears trailed Green Bay 21-3 at halftime in the wild card round at Soldier Field and won 31-27. The 18-point comeback was the largest in the team's postseason history, and it was Chicago's first playoff win since 2010, in Ben Johnson's first year as head coach. Loveland caught eight passes for 137 yards and a two-point conversion, becoming the first rookie tight end in NFL history with at least eight receptions and 100 yards in a playoff game. He finished the postseason with 193 receiving yards in two games. The run ended a week later against the Rams, 20-17 in overtime.
What does F.U.S.E. mean on an NFL jersey?
F.U.S.E. is the name of the Nike tailoring template that most NFL teams switched to for the 2023 season, replacing the older Vapor Untouchable pattern. It rearranges the seams and reshapes the collar, and on several teams the numbers now run across a seam line. Nike's Limited tier is built on that chassis. One practical difference worth knowing: the retail Nike Limited jersey uses heat-applied twill for the name and numbers, while ours are sewn on.
Why 84 and not 18
Loveland wore 18 at Michigan, but Caleb Williams already had it in Chicago, so 84 it was. The number has a quiet Bears history behind it: Brian Baschnagel wore it as a receiver from 1976 through 1984. It also sits next to Cole Kmet's 85, which is the pairing Ben Johnson leans on when he wants two tight ends on the field. Two questions come up every time somebody asks us about this one, and they are always the same two: is the number correct, and is it actually stitched. The answer to the second is yes, sewn-on tackle twill, name and numbers both. The third question usually arrives after the jersey does, so we will get ahead of it here: these run small.
The navy home version sits in our Chicago Bears jerseys collection next to Caleb Williams #18, Rome Odunze #15 and the Walter Payton throwback, with the rest of the league in NFL jerseys and the other half of that January night in Green Bay Packers jerseys. Men's sizes run S through 7XL, from $31, and free shipping starts at ten pieces. Size up one if you want room for a hoodie underneath in November.
Whether 84 turns into a number Chicago remembers depends on the next five months. It is worth pointing out that the last time a rookie tight end led the Bears in receiving, his name was Ditka.