Colston Loveland sang Mario’s “Let Me Love You” in front of his teammates during Chicago Bears rookie initiation

Colston Loveland.Credit : Michael Reaves/Getty

His head’s in the game, but his heart’s in the song.

Colston Loveland is being compared to High School Musical‘s Troy Bolton with his swoon-worthy vocals, as seen in a viral video featuring the NFL rookie singing during the Chicago Bears’ first-year initiation performance on Aug. 14.

In the video, the first round draft pick — who played four years at Michigan before being selected by the Bears this year — serenades his teammates to Mario’s “Let Me Love You,” smoothly hitting dance moves and notes that sent the internet into a tizzy.

Colston Loveland of the Chicago Bears.Michael Reaves/Getty

The clip was snipped from an episode of the Bears’ behind-the-series docuseries, 1920 Football Drive, where he explained his decision to sing the song for the amped-up crowd.

“That was just a song I’ve been listening to forever and it was something I actually knew,” Loveland, 21, said in the video. “I knew I could sing it without an instrumental if I had to. I felt confident.”

Singing a song as rookie is longstanding NFL tradition for many teams across the league.

Sione Vaki of the Detroit Lions went viral for his vocals during his rookie year in 2024, impressing coach Dan Campbell who spoke at length about it during a press conference after the musical moment.

Colston Loveland of the Chicago Bears warms up for a preseason game in August 2025.Kevin Sabitus/Getty

The rookies aim to perform well enough for their elder teammates’ approval — and if they don’t, the veterans will make them redo their song.

“They said I did a pretty good job,” Loveland said in the episode. “I felt like I did a good enough job not to go up there and do it again.”

10th-year pro Kevin Byard III of the Bears, a known tough critic, praised the Idaho native and his performance.

Colston Loveland.Michael Reaves/Getty

“That’s a great karaoke song,” he said. “I think he picked a really good song, it was really funny. I think he had a great song. He put a little sauce on it, gave us a little dance, a little bop.”

The internet virtually fell in love with Colston’s performance, with users swarming the comment sections beneath the clips that circled online.

“Drafted 10th overall, he’s 6’6”, and now this?! good lord that’s the golden retriever we all need,” wrote one user.

“I just watched this 42 times,” commented another, while a third wrote, “I actually can’t even admit how many times I watched the video.”

Colston Loveland of the Chicago Bears.William Purnell/Icon Sportswire via Getty

“I really became a bears fan after watching this extremely long video… anyone else been watching it for days 👀 and any idea on how to sneak in a Bears jersey without my Lions loving boyfriend noticing 😂😂,” commented a fourth user.

The Chicago Bears are fresh off a 29-27 win against the Kansas City Chiefs during a preseason game at Geha Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City on Friday, Aug. 22.

Next, the Bears take on the Minnesota Vikings on Sept. 8 for their first regular season game.