After a 12-win campaign that snapped a seven-season playoff drought, regression came for and killed the Chicago Bears in 2019. 

Third-year quarterback Mitchell Trubisky did not take the next step in his development. Third-round pick David Montgomery did not spark the running game. The offensive line did not provide many openings. The tight ends, as an entire unit, seldom contributed. Allen Robinson could only do so much on his own. Defensively, the Bears failed to generate takeaways at the rate they did a year ago. Overall, they did not stay nearly as healthy as the year prior.

Entering Week 17, the 7-8 Bears are eliminated from playoff contention. They don't even have the opportunity to spoil the Vikings' season on Sunday seeing that Minnesota is already locked as the six-seed. For all intents and purposes, the Bears' season is over. 

Which means it's time to look forward to 2020. Below, you'll find the five steps the Bears need to take this offseason to become a contender again. Even though the Bears have disappointed in 2019, hope for a better future remains. This is still a team with a talented roster, particularly on defense. The Bears didn't win 12 games a year ago on accident. Even for how bad they've been, they still have a chance to finish at .500. They're not dreadful, even if that's what their reputation suggests. Entering Week 17, they're 16th in DVOA. They're just not great, but with a few tweaks -- to be honest, it's mainly just one major change -- they can get back to the postseason. It should come as no surprise to hear that all five steps involve finding a way to score more points. The Bears are mostly fine defensively. It's all about the offense this offseason. 

We begin with a position that dominated the discourse during the Bears' last offseason.  

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1. Don't settle at kicker

It turns out, not trading for Robbie Gould ended up being a pretty great decision, because it's not like having Gould (on an expensive contract) would've changed their season. It also turns out that Eddy Pineiro isn't a horrible kicker. But the Bears should still be trying to upgrade at a position that's haunted them ever since they made the foolish decision to cut Gould back in 2016. 

Pineiro started strong with a game-winning 53-yard field goal in Week 2, but his production worsened as the year wore on -- partly due to an injury he was forced to play through. So far this season, he's made 79.2 percent of his field goals, which ranks 21st among all qualified kickers. Pineiro didn't cost the Bears this season. The kicker position is not why they missed the playoffs. But if the Bears do make it back to the playoffs, they better be sure they're confident in their kicker considering what happened the last time they appeared in the postseason.

To be clear, the Bears should not waste draft capital or dole out big money for a new kicker. That almost never works out. It's not a good way to use resources when other more pressing matters remain. But the Bears also shouldn't settle for Pineiro. They shouldn't hesitate to bring in cheap competition in the offseason and let the best kicker win the job.   

2. Perform an autopsy on the offense 

Look, obviously, we're going to talk about Trubisky and the quarterback position considering that's really the only thing that matters. But the Bears' offensive woes this season aren't entirely on Trubisky -- most of it is, but not all of it. Matt Nagy, the Bears coach who was hired away from Kansas City, where he worked under Andy Reid as the Chiefs' offensive coordinator, deserves a portion of the blame too and he needs to perform a complete autopsy on his offense to figure out where it all went wrong. 

His play-calling is part of the problem -- from his tendency to abandon the run in close games, get too cute with gadget plays, and forget to utilize Trubisky's athleticism by moving the pocket and getting him on the run. 

The good news is that Nagy appears to understand that the offense needs to undergo a thorough review process.

"It's very obvious that the offensive side of the ball is something that is going to be very, very important to me to get right," Nagy said, per the team's website. "It's plain and simple."

Nagy deserves credit for guiding the Bears to the playoffs a year ago in his first season as coach and for preventing the Bears from completely unraveling in the middle of a difficult season when it looked like a full-on collapse could be near, and it's not easy to design an offense around a quarterback who can't make the kinds of throws that are required of NFL starting quarterbacks, but it's worth wondering: If Nagy is such an offensive genius, then why did his offense finish last season 20th in DVOA? Why is his offense 25th in DVOA this year? Why are they scoring only 17.3 points per game?

Most of those questions can be answered by saying "Mitchell Trubisky." But Nagy shouldn't be absolved from blame. It's also his job to develop Trubisky, which hasn't happened.

3. Address their problem at tight end 

The Trey Burton signing last offseason did not work out well. In Burton's two season with the Bears, he's caught 68 passes for 653 yards and six touchdowns. He's missed eight games (including the postseason) -- nine after Sunday's season-finale. He's averaging 27.2 yards per game. He's also carried cap hits of $5.9 million (12th-highest among all TEs) and $8.6 million (fourth-highest among all TEs) in 2018 and 2019, respectively. His $8.6 million cap hit next season ranks ninth among all tight ends. Unfortunately, the Bears would have to eat $7.5 million against the cap if they were to cut him, saving only $1.6 million. So, in all likelihood, Burton will be back. But the Bears need to find a way to better incorporate him into the offense.

But the Bears can still try to add more reliable tight ends around Burton, who amazingly still leads the team's tight end group in receptions (14). 2017 second-round pick Adam Shaheen has never caught on with only 249 yards and four touchdowns in his 27-game career. J.P. Holtz leads the Bears' tight ends in receiving yards with 91. Sixty-two tight ends have more than 91 yards this season.

Whether it's through the draft or in free agency (see a list of free agents here) or in the trade market or a case of simply making better use of the options already on the team, the Bears need to fix their problem at tight end. It's not really a position they force defenses to defend in the passing game. They need to better weaponize it next season.

4. Extend Allen Robinson

This is more of a long-term move than a short-term move given Robinson is under contract through next season, but if the Bears are serious about being a contender for the years to come, they need to make sure Robinson isn't allowed to leave in free agency next year.

Bears fans might've been mildly disappointed in Robinson last season (after he signed a three-year, $42 million deal) when he caught 55 passes for 754 yards and four touchdowns, but context is paramount. Robinson was only a year removed from a torn ACL that derailed his final season in Jacksonville. This season, two years removed from the injury, Robinson has exploded for 89 catches, 1,076 yards, and seven touchdowns. Keep in mind, he did that with Trubisky and Chase Daniel as his quarterbacks. Imagine how much better his numbers would be if he had a starting-caliber quarterback throwing him the ball. You've got to feel for Robinson, who went from Blake Bortles with the Jaguars to Trubisky with the Bears.

Robinson is only 26 years old, so he's still very much in his prime. The Bears would be wise to sign him to a new long-term deal before he pulls off a repeat performance next season and gets even pricier. If the Bears can upgrade at quarterback, Robinson's numbers should skyrocket. He's been the lone bright spot on the Bears' offense this season. And he's young enough to still be in his prime when the Bears finally supply him with a legitimate franchise quarterback.

5. Bring in a new starting quarterback 

This is really the only thing that truly matters. The Bears need to bring in a new starting quarterback, because if they roll into the 2020 season with Trubisky as their unquestioned starter, they'll be destined to finish with yet another playoff-less season barring another out-of-this-world performance by the defense. 

Trubisky -- the quarterback the Bears traded up for at No. 2 in the 2017 draft even though both Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes were on the board -- was supposed to ascend in Year 3 after a promising, but deeply flawed second season, but he's gone in the opposite direction instead. This season, Trubisky ranks 20th in completion percentage, 32nd in yards per attempt, tied for 27th in touchdown passes, 14th in interceptions (as in the 14th-most picks), 28th in passer rating, 28th in both DYAR and DVOA, and 30th in total QBR. 

You get the point: He's not good. You don't need stats to know that. You just need to watch a Bears game.

It's clear that Trubisky is probably not the franchise quarterback the Bears have been desperate for, but they can still bring him back next season since he carries a modest cap hit of $9.2 million next season. That's affordable. But they need to bring in a new starting quarterback or, at the very least, a quarterback who can compete for the starting job.

What's problematic is that the Bears don't own a first-round pick. It belongs to the Raiders. While they do have two second-round picks, they're probably not going to find their solution at quarterback that late in the draft. 

But the good news for the Bears is that the market could be littered with veteran quarterbacks looking for new homes. Jameis Winston's situation in Tampa Bay is in flux. The Raiders might choose to leave Derek Carr in Oakland. Cam Newton could be made available, but his health remains a huge if. The Bengals, who own the top pick in the draft, should be trying to move on from Andy Dalton. Philip Rivers could be conceivably done with the Chargers. Marcus Mariota will almost definitely need a new gig. Maybe Teddy Bridgewater could become an option. I'd suggest Colin Kaepernick, but we all know that's not happening. The list goes on and on.

Obviously, none of those quarterbacks are sure things. If a quarterback hits the market or is allowed to leave a team, it probably means that quarterback has his own issues. But the Bears need to do what the Titans did this past offseason, when they traded for Ryan Tannehill, giving up what was essentially a fourth-round pick. The trade was always considered a smart one, just because it gave them depth and security behind Mariota, but nobody could've expected Tannehill to morph into a top-five quarterback and lead the Titans to the brink of the postseason. Not even the Titans knew this was coming. If they had known, they would've started Tannehill in Week 1. But the Titans found a way to bring in another potential starter for a cheap price. And they have since been rewarded for doing so. 

The Bears need to do something similar. Keep Trubisky, sure. But don't guarantee him the starting job. Hold a legitimate competition. Let the best quarterback win. They can't afford to waste another year of a Super Bowl-caliber defense with a backup-caliber quarterback. If they do run it back with Trubisky, odds are it'll be what gets both GM Ryan Pace and Nagy fired.

It might sound overly simplistic, but the Bears are a playoff-caliber team with a backup-caliber quarterback. That's how you get to 7-8. To get back to the postseason, the Bears merely need an adequate starting quarterback. Finding one needs to be their top objective this offseason.