Chicago Bears news: Zach Miller still dealing with foot injury
The Chicago Bears suffered through many injuries last season. One of them forced tight end Zach Miller to miss a big chunk of the season. As the team begins offseason training, he is still dealing with that same injury.
The Chicago Bears suffered through an array of injuries in 2016. They had a total of 19 players on injured reserve at the end of the season. That doesn’t include others who missed games but eventually came back. It seemed there were more injured players than healthy players on the roster.
One of those injury victims was Zach Miller. He suffered a Lisfranc fracture (break of one or more bones in the middle of the foot) on his right foot. He was having a career year at the time of the injury, but then missed the final six games of the season.
Not having Miller caused a big problem for Bears quarterbacks. Not having a big target in the red zone handcuffed their ability to score touchdowns. The Bears ranked 24th in touchdown passes and 28th in scoring.
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Now comes word that Miller is still dealing with that same injury. I wrote back in February that he said he’d be 100 percent by the time offseason training activity (OTA) began. That hasn’t happened completely. Yes, he says he is “close to 100 percent” but that means there is still something he’s dealing with.
This is perhaps the biggest reason general manager Ryan Pace drafted tight end Adam Shaheen in the second round. Miller is injury-prone, never having played an entire season since he came into the league in 2009. The Bears also signed Dion Sims so Pace is covering all his bases so that there isn’t a repeat of last season’s lack of depth.
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If Miller continues to deal with this or any other injury, look for the Bears to move on from him. If Shaheen can make the transition from Division II to the pro level, he has a great opportunity to start for the Chicago Bears.