Snap Judgment: Anthony Miller’s spike in playing time nets little return

A look at the Chicago Bears’ playing time distribution from their loss to the Saints.

SHARE Snap Judgment: Anthony Miller’s spike in playing time nets little return
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Anthony Miller played a lot the last two weeks, but his production has been modest.

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Everything should be on the table for reevaluation after the Bears got clobbered 36-25 by the Saints on Sunday. They fell to 3-3 and have few positive indicators that they can be one of the best teams in the NFC.

That’s a harsh reality six weeks into a season.

The upside for the Bears is the upcoming stretch of their schedule doesn’t look nearly as strenuous as once feared, so there’s an opportunity to go on a run if they find any solutions. Before marching on to the Chargers, here’s a look at how they split up playing time in the loss to New Orleans:

Anthony Miller isn’t giving much return

Bears coach Matt Nagy bumped Anthony Miller to 62 percent of the offensive snaps in Taylor Gabriel’s absence against the Vikings and 77 percent the following week against the Raiders.

He played him a season-high 49 snaps (75 percent) in the loss to the Saints, and he caught five passes for 64 yards with a crucial lost fumble on a run play.

Gabriel, who was second on the team in catches last season and third in yards receiving, played just 58 percent of the snaps against the Saints. He caught one pass for 6 yards.

Tight end struggles

The “U” tight end is arguably the most important position in Nagy’s offense, and the Bears have exactly one player capable of filling that role: Trey Burton. However, he’s been hurt since training camp and still doesn’t look right.

Burton’s playing time dipped from a season-high 75 percent of the snaps in the Raiders game to 66 percent against the Saints. He was at 80 percent for the season in 2018, when he was one of the best receiving tight ends in the NFL.

This year, he has 13 catches for 68 yards, including two for 11 against the Saints.

The Bears played Adam Shaheen on 32 percent of their plays and in-season waiver pickup J.P. Holtz on 11 percent.

‘Running game’ distribution

It’s hard to refer to it as an actual running game when the Bears rushed seven times. Seven. They gained 17 yards on the ground. Both are NFL season-lows.

The Bears are the 10th team since 1960 to run seven times or fewer, and all 10 lost.

If you really want to know where those seven carries went, here they are: Tarik Cohen ran three times for 10 yards, David Montgomery ran twice for 6, Cordarrelle Patterson ran once for 2 and Miller ran one time for minus-1.

Nagy played Cohen 55 percent of the snaps (his biggest share since the opener), Montgomery 46 percent (his lowest number since Week 2) and Patterson 23 percent.

Defense needs a boost

The Bears have stumbled defensively the last two weeks, and some added depth might help.

They played both starting cornerbacks, Kyle Fuller and Prince Amukamara, 100 percent of the snaps, as well as linebacker Danny Trevathan and safety Eddie Jackson. Safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix got two plays off.

The Bears’ primary edge rushers, Khalil Mack and Leonard Floyd also had heavy workloads. Mack was in for 85 percent of the snaps, and Floyd played 82 percent.

Keep an eye on Mack. He’s always in tremendous shape, but they need to keep him fresh. He has played about 85 percent of the snaps for the season and is on pace for 963 snaps. He played 755 last season, when he missed two games because of injury. 

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