When you have one of the worst offenses in the NFL, there’s more than one issue at fault. That was the case for the Chicago Bears, who stumbled to a 8-8 finish with an abysmal offense that could never seem to find a rhythm — with the exception of a two-game stretch late in the year.
Inconsistent quarterback play, lack of a run game, struggles at tight end and offensive line and questionable playcalling, you name it, it was a weakness.
General manager Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy have been working this offseason to fix Chicago’s offense, whether that’s through bringing in new players and new coaches.
So, at this point, what is the Bears’ biggest offensive concern? According to Sports Illustrated, the Bears’ biggest roster weakness heading into the 2020 season is tight end.
Without knowledge of how the position will work at the moment, we have to assume that, for the most part, the struggles of 2019 still remain. I would not be surprised if the Bears drastically altered their formation usage from a year ago (they were in 11-personnel with three wide receivers 64% of the time and 12-personnel with two tight ends just 10% of the time).
At the moment, GM Ryan Pace has adopted the fire hose approach to solving this issue by signing a 33-year-old Jimmy Graham, drafting Cole Kmet and then signing enough backups and camp bodies to field a full indoor soccer team (the Bears have nine tight ends on the roster currently). While this will likely lead to a significant improvement, we don’t know what will happen yet.
The Bears will have two new starting tight ends this year in veteran Jimmy Graham and rookie Cole Kmet, and Pace is banking on both to provide a boost to the offense.
SI mentions the influx of tight ends on Chicago’s roster right now, but they fail to acknowledge that the number on the 53-man roster will trimmed to four. Right now, there’s no harm in having a packed tight ends room. Especially when we already have a good idea of who the four tight ends will be — Graham, Kmet, Demetrius Harris and Ben Braunecker.
Chicago should get better production out of its tight ends group this season if only because they were so bad last season. They combined for 36 receptions, 416 receiving yards and just two touchdowns.
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