The Chicago Bears competition at kicker has remained the hot topic of 2019 since their 2018 season ended at Soldier Field with Cody Parkey's now-infamous double-doink miss. During that time, the team has brought in no less than 10 kickers in total for tryouts and participants for the battle. Parkey may have actually been able to keep his job. Unfortunately, he ruined it for himself when he made an ill-advised appearance on The Today Show to discuss how he's dealing with the fallout of the miss.
Chicago cut him not long after that. He hasn't tried out for a team since.
The competition began in rookie minicamps and it became clear right away that things were not going to be normal for the men involved. Matt Nagy and his coaching staff were hellbent on finding a kicker they could trust. According to Kalyn Kahler of the MMQB, those involved with the process were utterly blown away by how obsessive the Bears were about it. Rather than just try to make kicks in practice, they were involved in a detailed battle that even involved a points system.
One that not only judged whether they made or missed their kicks but also their ball speed, rotation, operation time, and overall mechanics.
They did some mental math to decode the scoring system. The prevailing hypothesis: One point was awarded for a made field goal, with those from long distances worth more. Some kickers thought another point was added for good ball rotation, but they weren’t entirely sure. Still confused, they pulled out their phones and snapped pictures of the results, hoping to figure it out later from the privacy of their hotel rooms.
“Some of us were getting together like, Hmmm, I thought you made three more kicks than that…” Evans says. “We are all paying attention like hawks to each other. We know who missed, we know how many. Were they taking off points if they thought it was going to get blocked? Did they do that for all of them? It was a very weird deal.”
Chicago Bears competition may have been infected with bias
Where it gets really interesting is when the subject of Jamie Kohl becomes involved. The Bears hired the specialist, who runs a well-regarded kicking camp that has helped develop several future pros, as a consultant. He took things to a far different level in terms of using the points system and also narrowing the goalposts to improve accuracy. However, some who ended up being cut feel they never had a chance. That Kohl was unfairly favoring guys he knew and had worked with before.
“All of Jamie’s guys, they could have shanked the kick, and it was like, Oh, you have really good rotation, your foot is wrapping around the ball,” says one kicker who was cut after rookie camp. "I don’t think this situation will be solved or will be what the team needs to be until Jamie Kohl is gone. The way he very much tries to control a room, tries to be the alpha.”
It's an interesting point.
Out of the original nine kickers who entered the competition in May, the two who survived to the next round were Chris Blewitt and Elliott Fry. Blewitt had worked extensively with Kohl before. Then the Bears ended up trading for Eddy Pineiro from the Oakland Raiders. He has since gone on to be the last man standing. Is it any coincidence that he was also a big name involved with Kohl's camps.
It makes one wonder just how much say special teams coordinator Chris Tabor has in this thing. Whether the accusation of bias is true or not, it's worth noting none of the guys who were cut by the Bears have since been picked up by other teams. So maybe they're just having trouble coping with the idea they might not be good enough.
Comments
Join the discussion below. Keep it civil and focused on the content.
Loading comments...