TE Zach Miller officially retires

On instagram this afternoon, Zach Miller officially announced his retirement:

Miller hasn’t played since suffering a devastating knee injury during a Week 8 game at New Orleans when he caught a touchdown*.

Miller endeared himself to Bears fans over his five seasons. Miller was kind of an after-thought of a free agent signing from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2014 but he played well in the preseason only to be struck down by the injury bug.

He fought back and played in 15 games in 2015 and then 10 in 2016, when he broke his foot.

In 2017 he was having another solid season when he suffered his fateful knee injury.

Miller has carried himself with class and the organization has repaid him by paying him his contract last season while he recovered his injury and was placed on injured reserve.

For his Bears career he had 101 receptions, 1,161 yards and 12 touchdowns*. Last season, despite being on IR, he grew close with Mitchell Trubisky and was something of a player-coach and sounding board for Trubisky.

He received the Ed Block Courage Award just last week and said he hadn’t made a decision on retirement but that it would come soon. It came today.

What was your favorite Miller highlight: His 88-yard TD against the Rams, his one-handed game-winning catch against the Chargers from Cutler, his role in the Trubisky trick 2-point conversion against the Vikings or another play?

* - The NFL record book officially says it wasn’t a TD and that he caught 11 for his Bears career, I refuse to recognize this.

And just in case the above embed isn’t working for you, here’s what Miller wrote.

To the city of Chicago, my beloved bears fans and NFL fans everywhere... The time has come to move on from playing the game of football. It has been an incredible journey for myself and my entire family and we can’t thank you enough for your continued support. I would love more than anything to step on Soldier Field one last time but I physically cannot give the game and our fans what they deserve. It’s difficult to find words to express my love and gratitude to every single person that has cheered my name, picked me up and stood strong with me throughout my time in this league. I am forever grateful.

To the McCaskey Family and the entire Bears organization, THANK YOU for changing my life! To my Family, teammates and coaches, I value nothing more than the friendships and love I have gained from this game! I love you all!

And to everyone else chasing a dream... never stop, never settle! • -Z