What a difference a day makes. On Day 2 of rookie mini-camp, their 8 kickers go 6-8 (instead of 2-8 the day before).
That is better news. I definitely agree with folks here that we won't know much until TC and PS games - and actually the regular season games are all that matter. But I do laugh a bit here. We have some of the Bears kickers finally hitting some 42 yard field goals and we feel better (and I do) but holy cow that's not much... our high school kickers around here hit those distances now.
I am hoping for the best. I'll be honest. I'm gonna freak if the Bears go into yet another season with a crappy kicker. But yes, hope they finally get the position figured out.
What a difference a day makes. On Day 2 of rookie mini-camp, their 8 kickers go 6-8 (instead of 2-8 the day before).
That is better news. I definitely agree with folks here that we won't know much until TC and PS games - and actually the regular season games are all that matter. But I do laugh a bit here. We have some of the Bears kickers finally hitting some 42 yard field goals and we feel better (and I do) but holy cow that's not much... our high school kickers around here hit those distances now.
I am hoping for the best. I'll be honest. I'm gonna freak if the Bears go into yet another season with a crappy kicker. But yes, hope they finally get the position figured out.
I believe it is a safe assumption that everyone (fans, players, coaches, front office, etc) is concerned about the kicking for the Bears. My point is that the two data points (the rookie FA kickers went 2/8 on 42/43 yard attempts on day 1 and then went 6/8 on day 2) are equally as relevant. IMO both are relatively meaningless.
We have a GM in Pace who seems to be developing into one of the top GMs in the league. We have a 2nd year coach in Nagy who also seems to be developing into one of the leading HCs in the league. Why don't we all sit back and enjoy the ride? Will there be mistakes and missed opportunities? Absolutely! They are both human beings and will make mistakes and/or do things they would like to take back and do differently. As we all do.
But since Pace and Nagy are both all in on fixing the kicking game, it will get fixed.
I "get it" as to why fans are wanting the position fixed when you consider the Bears have struggled to get it right for so many seasons now - going back to Gould's last 2 seasons here when he struggled here. A number of kickers (and seasons) have come and gone. Each season we hope that the Bears will get it right, but they have failed.
I have to laugh out loud about one headline today in one of the major newspapers that said Chicago's kickers all "failed the Cody Parkey test" yesterday. Tough headline for sure.
So, yeah, I once again hope the Bears can finally end the pain at kicker, but frankly I won't breathe easy until they do. Not panicking at this point. Not at all. I just want to see the position fixed. I felt the same way about the QB woes for years here. Same with the O-line when we had trouble getting it fixed here for years too. For that matter our years of WR woes sucked too.
I just want them to finally get a guy who can kick well. Not panicking, but frustrated.
I'm conerned as well. However, I think the kicking game is becoming less revelant like it was 10 years ago. I could be wrong, but one thing I liked about the AAF, is that there wasn't any kickoffs (somewhat missed the point after). I personally see the NFL going that direction.
I've finally found the kicker I'm rooting for, it's Spencer Evans.
Btw riczaj01 aren't you a big Purdue guy? Can you tell us anything else about this guy?
FWIW, I found this on his season:
LINK Purdue said kicker Spencer Evans also will attend the minicamp on a tryout. He made 18 of 23 field goals last season, but his long was 41 yards.
Pace vowed to continue casting a wide net in trying to replace Cody Parkey, who double-doinked his way out of town. The Bears have three other kickers under contract: Elliott Fry, Redford Jones and Chris Blewitt. It is unclear whether they will take part in the minicamp. None has kicked in an NFL game, including the preseason.
On Saturday, Pace wouldn’t rule out the Bears eventually turning to a veteran. Robbie Gould, the Bears’ all-time leading scorer, has demanded a trade from the 49ers, citing a desire to play closer to his Chicago home.
‘‘ ‘Thorough’ is the word I want to use,’’ Pace said Saturday. ‘‘ ‘Thorough.’ Like looking under every stone and being thorough with this whole evaluation.’’
#1 is that Pace is relentless in fixing a position on the roster. That has been his history to date here. So no doubt eventually he'll get his guy. Hopefully this is the year.
#2 is that the kicker position is one of the more difficult ones on the roster to get right. In "level of difficulty" I believe it is just behind finding a solid QB. Not as tough as that, but pretty darned close. I believe the reason for this is that both QB and Kickers rely so heavily on the mental aspect. You really can't measure that as a metric. But if either a QB or Kicker does not have it (the mental makeup) then you can just flush all the other metrics down the toilet. Meaningless. To make matter more tricky, regarding the Kicker position, you can actually have a rock solid kicker go through periods where the mental part of his game goes bad. Could be like Robbie Gould for a couple years. Or they can just go bad and they never quite get it back and that's it. Others seem to chug away being great for many many years.
i did see that one of the rookies(thought Baron) said he has not felt comfortable all week. So ya it's not a cake walk for these guys, they know that only a couple are going to get an invite to camp; if that so the stress of the situation is working
I changed the thread title. Someone in the thread suggested we just keep the kicker news in one thread until the Bears find the new guy for this season. I gotta admit the old title was a bit of a click bait title :-)