Eliminate Bench Press?

[Alchemist]

Stats:
51 yo male
Intermediate
215 lb 5'10"
I'm currently both trying to drop some weight (from 235 to 215 currently in the last 4 months). At the start of that cut, I had just finished working back up from bar weight from skull surgery in May. Current lifts.
Squat 285 lb @ 6x3 (Sully notation)
DL 315 lb 6x3
OHP 134 6x3

Bench....well, that is what I'm writing about.

Back in February when it was 225 lb 5x3 my right shoulder started aching and having sharp pains while benching. There was not a specific injury, the pain just grew as the weight went up over about two months. Due to horribly shitty sleep (the reason for the surgery above) and other life stress I drop bench and focused on OHP. I stopped lifting April - June (pre and post surgery). Upon starting back I immediately found even the empty bar hurt my shoulder in the same way. I've tried to work it up but when I could not get it past 100 lb without sharp pains I finally went to PT. No scans were done to eliminate spurs and the like and the layman prognosis was that my humerus was not staying in place maybe due to a rear deltoid weakness, and the posterior biceps tendon was irritated going through the AC joint. Rotator cuff and such is fine. It seems the Delt is now helping to keep it in place and if I REALLY pinch my back and keep everything super tight (yeah, as I know I should) I can do a slightly limited ROM bench press at about 120 lb, with the bar being about 2" high at the low position (per TUBOW) and my humerus is parallel to the ground. Below parallel (i.e. bar to chest) still hurts.

To all that, the advice I'd like from you is

1) Do you have suggestions what is going on and how to fix it so I can bench again (is this indicative of Biceps tendinitis?)
2) Should I even bother to keep benching. I've honestly never cared for the lift and would happily focus on OHP but also don't want to actively start that physical decline if I can prevent it.

Thanks Rip. Did I miss anything?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Have you tried benching the dumbbells?

[Alchemist]

I have. The same exact limitations (humerus only to parallel) and pain otherwise.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Given your situation, I'd stop benching, at least for a few months. Come back to it later this year and see if it has improved. At this point in your training, it makes no sense to keep irritating your shoulders.

[Alchemist]

Since that I stopped in February for 6 months, why would stopping again change anything? Because I did some PT? And so this isn't a case like tennis elbow where you hyper irritate the hell out of it to make it hell?

[Mark Rippetoe]

If you have a torn supraspinatus/rotator cuff tendon, an inflammatory process is not going to heal it. That's a surgery situation, and you may not like the outcome. I'd stop benching.

[Alchemist]

Thanks Rip. How does one tell if that tendon is torn? Does it require a CT or MRI?

I'll stop trying to use it for bench for a number of months and revisit in the summer maybe.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Confirmation is by MRI.