How bad has the Chicago Bears offense been?

Nothing has gone right for the Chicago Bears in the last few weeks, in particular, the offense. There is plenty of blame to account, but the tight end position has been the weakest link by a wide margin.

The Chicago Bears are struggling mightily on offense this season. Many fingers are able to be pointed seeing the entire team is not performing up to expectations. The tight end is clearly a glaring hole for the Bears offense.

Hall of fame coach Bill Walsh believed the tight end position was a key element to his west coast style offense. The position tends to be lost in the shuffle. However, creating mismatches while working in the middle of defenses and additional blocking support in the rushing attack is the chief goal that current NFL coaches, including Kansas City’s Andy Reid, have adopted. As a result, the Chiefs are 6th in points per game according to www.teamrankings.com.

“They move around and do a lot of different things,” said coach Matt Nagy. “So it gives you the advantage to be able to get, ‘what defense are they going to play in? Are they going to play sub? Are they going to play base?’ That’s where the cat-and-mouse part comes in as coaches every week.”

As is common with teams in rebuilding mode, a quarterback who can throw the ball to his receivers and read the defense is often what can make a rebuilding team into a playoff contender. The Bears have a quarterback that has the capabilities of putting up big numbers as Mitchell Tribusky did in 2018, but last year’s success has been left behind for many reasons.

Trey Burton caught 54 passes for 6 scores last season but his annual cost of $8 million makes him the 8th most paid tight end per Overthecap.com and Sportrac.com. However, Burton had surgery for a sports hernia injury in the offseason and had to miss the lone Bears playoff game because of a supposed groin strain. Burton has zero touchdowns in 2019 and the surgery may be having some impact on his performance.

Adam Shaheen was supposed to be another reliable target for Tribusky but injuries in the last three years have planted doubt in whether he will be part of the offensive attack going forward. Shaheen was drafted in the second round in 2017 but has been on the field for around half of the snaps one time in 26 career games.

The purpose of the tight end is not just being another target a quarterback can trust but a running threat at any moment. The lack of a reliable tight end play has shown in the stats. The Bears have averaged an abysmal 80 yards a game, compared to 2018, the Bears rushing attack was over 117 yards a game according to teamrankings.com. Where does the team go from here?