The Chicago Bears’ magical 2018 season ended on a double-doink missed field goal that felt all-too fitting for a season marred by inconsistent kicker play.
While the Bears don’t have any glaring holes on their roster, the one position of need remains placekicker. With the release of the embattled Cody Parkey, the Bears find themselves searching for a replacement that can provide stability at the kicker position in a city where it isn’t necessarily easy to kick.
Bears GM Ryan Pace needs to find resolution at kicker, and he’s pulling out all the stops to do so. Pace has made a concerted effort to create competition at the position that will carry through the offseason and into training camp and preseason.
While the whole Robbie Gould-to-Chicago narrative continues to play with everyone’s emotions, it looks more and more likely that the Bears will head into the offseason with inexperience at kicker — and a lot of it.
But while the Bears already have three kickers on their roster, Pace won’t rule out drafting a kicker should the right player be available at the right place.
“It just depends on where you have the kicker graded,” Pace said. “If he’s graded at that value and we get to that place in the draft and that (name) is sticking up there that high, I think you have to explore it.”
The Bears currently have three kickers under contract — all lacking NFL experience — in Chris Blewitt, Redford Jones and Elliott Fry. Should the Bears draft a kicker or turn to one in the undrafted free agent market, that would be four inexperienced kickers competing for a job that will be under the microscope.
The Bears own two seventh-round draft picks (Nos. 222 and 238), and drafting a kicker is certainly an option for Pace. Chicago has met with most of the top prospects in the draft, including Utah’s Matt Gay and LSU’s Cole Tracy.
