Bears kickers go 2-for-8 as competition begins with single 43-yard try
The Chicago Bears' kicking competition got off to a horrid start Friday, as six of the eight invitees to rookie minicamp botched their lone field-goal attempt at the end of practice.
All eight kickers were given one opportunity to make a 43-yard try. It's the same distance Cody Parkey missed from last season in the playoffs, which cost the Bears a chance to defeat the Philadelphia Eagles at the end of the fourth quarter.
"Two-for-eight, that's not good enough," head coach Matt Nagy said afterward, according to Larry Mayer of ChicagoBears.com. "Now I will say this, we always look at the end result of what happens, which is 100 percent of what matters, right? But as we're learning, two of those eight holds and snaps, it wasn't 100 percent. I'll leave it at that. So we've got to work through that. That's why after today we're not going to just go about and make rash decisions or anything. We're going to play it out."
Nagy said he intentionally set up the kickers from the distance at which Parkey missed. Each kicker took their attempt with the rest of their teammates watching.
| Kicker | Made/Missed | Roster Status |
|---|---|---|
| Chris Blewitt | missed | signed |
| Elliott Fry | missed | signed |
| Redford Jones | missed | signed |
| John Baron | made | signed |
| Casey Bednarski | missed | tryout |
| Emmit Carpenter | missed | tryout |
| Spencer Evans | made | tryout |
| Justin Yoon | missed | tryout |
"What I want to do in going through this process is try to create situations where it puts a little heat on them, right?" Nagy said. "But at the same time let them learn through the process of the different style of kicks, the different types of holders."
The Bears released Parkey following the postseason. The former Pro Bowler went 23-of-30 on field goals last year after converting at a 91 percent clip the campaign prior.