The Chicago Bears have some good things happening at wide receiver. Allen Robinson remains the stud he’s been since arriving in 2018. He’s on course for over 1200 yards this season, which would top what he did in 2019. On top of that, rookie Darnell Mooney has come out of nowhere to become second on the team in receiving yards while also scoring two touchdowns. Yet all of this seems to reinforce how frustrating Anthony Miller has been this year.
Expectations were high for the former 2nd round pick coming into this season. He finished 2019 on a hot streak with 438 yards in his final seven games. It looked like things were coming together. His route running was sharp. He has the speed to consistently beat any coverage. The guy was playing with confidence. Even coaches felt he was on the cusp of challenging the 1,000-yard mark this season.
Instead, 2020 became one long whoopie cushion blast.
Miller has yet to produce a 100-yard game this season. In fact, he’s only topped 70 yards twice in nine games. People are left wondering what’s going on. Is he just not being utilized enough? No. To this point, Miller has been targeted 50 times. That’s on track for 88. More than he got last season (85). So what’s the problem?
It could be that the Bears have lost trust in him and he’s not making plays when he should. Miller does have two game-winning catches, but several key mistakes have overshadowed those. Football data expert Anthony Reinhard summed this up perfectly in one tweet. Accord to him, Miller has cost the Bears more expected points than any other receiver this season.
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It isn’t just the fact he is dropping passes. He already has four this year after having three in all of 2019. It’s the time he’s picking to have those drops.
Which receivers have cost their teams the most expected points from dropped passes this season?
Anthony Miller of the Bears tops the list despite having only four drops. Of those four, two were in the end zone and another resulted in an interception. pic.twitter.com/nxcsmXCnwJ
— Anthony Reinhard (@reinhardNFL) November 12, 2020
Anthony Miller is too much of a roller coaster right now
Probably the drop that hurt the most is the one shown above. The Bears were in overtime against New Orleans. They seemed to be poised to get a win if they could reach field goal range. This should be a routine catch for seven or eight yards by Miller. That drop completely killed their momentum. Jimmy Graham had one on the next play and then Nick Foles was sacked. Chicago punted and ended up losing the game.
Most people will remember his ugly drop in the end zone against New York. Mitch Trubisky delivered a perfect throw that hit him right in the hands but fell incomplete. The Bears won that game so it was largely forgotten. Yet it doesn’t erase a growing trend. Anthony Miller is approaching the end of his third season in Chicago and still hasn’t proven trustworthy enough to be called a go-to guy in this offense.
Considering the Bears gave up an extra 2nd round pick to acquire him? That is yet another bad look for GM Ryan Pace who has yet to produce a single star player via the draft in six offseasons.