Chicago Bears: 7 Offseason moves to make for 2020 to return to playoffs

Look for tight end help

The tight end unit was a mess in 2019. Trey Burton just couldn’t stay healthy. He had a carryover from his sports hernia injury that kept him out of the playoff game last season. He had surgery but just wasn’t right. Then he suffered a calf injury and the Chicago Bears decided he had enough and placed him on injured reserve.

Burton played in only eight games and had just 14 receptions for 84 yards and no touchdowns. Even with those awful numbers, he was still better than Shaheen, who had only had nine catches for 74 yards.

With the two starters going down, the Bears had Jesper Horsted, Ben Braunecker and J.P. Holtz fill in. That didn’t work out any better. The three combined for 21 catches for 237 yards and two touchdowns.

Not having a big target, especially in the red zone, severely hamstrung quarterback Mitchell Trubisky. The tight end is a quarterback’s security blanket. That blanket got yanked from Trubisky.

The Bears still have confidence in Burton. He had a good year in 2018 with 569 receiving yards and six touchdowns. With the time he missed during the season and offseason rehab they figure he’ll come back strong in 2020.

The Bears need to add depth to that position. The three tight ends they had didn’t cut it. None of them could reach a number two behind Burton. The team could go after a veteran tight end and pick up someone from the draft to use as depth. The prospect can be eased into the field.

We all know how the Bears try to ease their rookies most of the time. That was the plan with Trubisky and that’s what they did with wide receiver Riley Ridley. This is an important position to fill if the team wants Trubisky to take a step up in his development.