Chicago Bears: 5 Burning questions for 2019 entering training camp

2. What becomes of the kicking situation?

This is the big question everyone is concerned about. The Bears’ magical 2018 campaign ended with Cody Parkey‘s missed (okay blocked) field goal. They were cruising in the latter part of the regular season and they opened many eyes with their play, winning nine of their last ten games. Then Parkey happened and it all came tumbling down.

The Bears had to watch the Super Bowl with the team they dominated, the Los Angeles Rams, representing the NFC against the Patriots, the team they took to the final play of the game when they met.

Ever since that game, much of the fans’ focus has been on the kicker’s job. It’s been a big focus for the team as well. They brought in a small village of kickers (okay maybe just eight) to try to find the right guy. In addition, the coaches came up with different ways to do that. They put the pressure of additional drills on their shoulders, they narrowed the goalposts, and they even had them take the same field goal attempt as Parkey’s miss.

That last one was disastrous. Of the eight kickers who attempted that 43-yard field goal, six of them missed. That was pretty embarrassing. After that, the Bears knocked out the competition to just two: Eddy Pineiro and Elliott Fry.

Let’s see how these two guys perform. There will be a lot riding on their legs. They have their positives and negatives. Pineiro has a booming leg but needs to work on consistency. Fry has consistency but needs more strength on his leg. Because of that, many feel the Bears ultimately go outside the team for the kicker. There are plenty of good veteran kickers who will be available.

Of course, one of the two guys in the competition could become another Robbie Gould. Gould wasn’t Gould when he won the starting job with the Bears. He was a construction worker when he tried out. The problem is whether or not they could take a chance with one of these guys when they have Super Bowl hopes on the line. This is sure to be an interesting storyline.