For the Chicago Bears offense, Mitch Trubisky isn’t the only one with erratic play. Anthony Miller again has his disappearances.
After two weeks, the Chicago Bears are 2-0. That’s great since most of the national media predicted they’d have three total wins for the season. What isn’t great is the erratic, up-and-down play of quarterback Mitchell Trubisky.
Trubisky opened the season by struggling through the first three quarters against a weak Detroit Lions secondary. Then he turned it on and had a spectacular fourth quarter to lead the Bears to a comeback victory.
In Week 2, he continued his hot streak in the first half. He looked the part of a second overall draft pick. He looked confident in the pocket and made good decisions. However, when the second half came he reverted back to a confused quarterback, one making questionable decisions and missing passes.
Going forward, Trubisky needs to show more consistency if he hopes to hold on to the starting quarterback job. He knows that, head coach Matt Nagy knows that, and the fans know that.
However, he isn’t the only player on offense who needs to be more consistent. One of his potential targets needs to show up game in and game out, and not take any games off.
That player is wide receiver Anthony Miller.
Miller still the same inconsistent player he’s always been
Miller’s career has been marred by injuries and inconsistent play. He started off well in his rookie season in 2018 but slowed down towards the end of the season. Last season, he was nonexistent in his first four games, heated up, then cooled off again.
All that was supposedly behind him now. The coaching staff said he had his best training camp. He went to teammate Allen Robinson to pick up some pointers and Robinson talked not only about his route-running but also about his preparation as a professional. He looked like a different receiver with a better attitude.
Then the season began and he reverted to the inconsistent receiver he was before the season began.
In Week 1, Miller caught four of the six targets that went his way. He finished the game with 76 yards and caught the game-winning touchdown. Things were great and it looked like Miller was a new player.
In Week 2, however, Miller completely disappeared. He didn’t make a catch on any of the three targets thrown his way. Two of those misses were critical. One was on a similar pass that he caught on the sideline for the winning touchdown against the Lions. The ball was in his hands but he dropped it. If he makes the catch, the Bears’ halftime lead would be 24-0 and they’d feel more comfortable cruising to a victory.
The second miss was on a critical third down in the third quarter. The Bears were on the Giants’ 38. Nagy said in his press conference that Miller ran the route short. Again, his route-running cost the Bears.
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If Miller catches the ball it’s a first down and the offense has a better chance of at least hitting a field goal. Instead they had to punt. On the ensuing drive, the Giants marched down and scored a touchdown, cutting the Bears lead to 17-10.
The Bears need Miller to be more consistent. If he can’t do that, Nagy will cut his snap numbers. He already showed that against the Giants. Miller ended up playing in on just 26 snaps, less than half of the total snaps (40 percent). In fact, he fell behind rookie Darnell Mooney, who played on 39 snaps (60 percent).
Yes, Trubisky deserves some criticism for his uneven play. He needs his receivers, though, and Miller is supposed to be one of his main targets. Because of that, he needs to show that the quarterback should have confidence in him to make catches consistently. So far, he hasn’t earned that confidence.
