BOURBONNAIS — As the Bears’ offense tries to get on track, two key parts of the passing game are in question.
Wide receiver Anthony Miller went down with a foot or ankle injury in practice Saturday morning, adding a concern as the team slowly works tight end Trey Burton back into the mix.
Miller landed awkwardly after making a catch during a one-on-one drill against fourth-string cornerback Michael Joseph and hobbled as he left the field with a trainer.
Miller tweeted, “I’m good,” with a thumbs up emoji shortly after the injury, but deleted it within minutes. Bears coach Matt Nagy didn’t seem worried about the injury.
“I think he rolled it,” Nagy said. “We’ll see. He’ll be all right — I hope so, at least. We’ll see how tough he is.”
The Bears have their final practice in Bourbonnais on Sunday, then practice twice at Halas Hall before visiting the Giants on Friday. Miller started and played seven snaps in the preseason opener.
He rehabbed from shoulder surgery in the offseason and arrived at training camp intent on building off a rookie season of 33 catches, 423 yards and seven touchdowns.
Burton is an even more important piece for the Bears, especially considering their lack of proven players at tight end, and it might be a while before he’s ready to play. In fact, Nagy hinted that he doesn’t plan to use him in preseason games as the team prioritizes getting him back to full speed by the season opener.
Burton returned to practice Saturday after missing more than a week. He went through individual work at the beginning, but stepped away before team drills.
“I can’t stand sitting on the sideline and not playing,” he said. “It’s really, really been frustrating from that standpoint, but I know there’s a bigger picture in mind.”
Burton suffered a sports hernia injury before the Bears’ playoff loss to the Eagles last season, but it was not diagnosed as such until later. The surgery disrupted his offseason training, and that has affected him in camp.
He was cleared to return for the first practice of camp and is thought to be recovered from the injury, but will need time to regain his speed, strength and endurance.
“He’s just taking it slow,” Nagy said. “We want to make sure he’s right for Sept. 5. Quite honestly, I could [not] care less about the preseason... We have to sometimes protect the player from the player and that’s what we’re kind of doing.”
Any missed games by Burton could be trouble for the Bears. He’s coming off a breakthrough season of 569 yards and six touchdowns on 54 catches, and no one else at the position has ever been near that level of production. He played 80 percent of the offensive snaps last year.
Adam Shaheen, who has fought a back injury in camp, is next in line behind Burton as a pass-catching tight end. He played six games last year and five catches, 48 yards and a touchdown.
He considers this the most challenging injury he’s ever faced — worse than when he broke his ankle in high school — and the choppy recovery of feeling fine one day and struggling the next has been exasperating.
“I’m having to be held back,” Burton said. “They’re telling me, ‘No, you can’t do this, you can’t do that,’ which I understand, but I don’t like it.”
