Quite a few labels could be put on the Chicago Bears’ kicker battle right now, and quarterback Mitch Trubisky’s is surely going to stand as one of the kinder ones.
Count Mitch Trubisky as an optimist regarding the Chicago Bears’ kicking competition.
Despite getting a nice contract, Cody Parkey’s “double-doink” playoff game field goal miss sealed his fate as the placekicker for the Bears. Since cutting him, it’s become clear it will be a wide-open battle to determine who will replace him.
The Bears invited eight kickers to their rookie minicamp this weekend, which even at this early stage shows just how wide open the competition really is.
The infamous field goal miss against the Philadelphia Eagles that cost Parkey his job came from 43 yards out. So it was not a coincidence Bears head coach Matt Nagy had all eight kickers attempt a field goal from that distance during Friday’s minicamp practice.
The results were not promising, to say the least.
Nagy was not thrilled with that collective 2-for-8 make rate, but he did suggest it was not all on the kickers.
There are some not-very-kind labels that can be placed on the state of the Bears’ kicking competition right now, and those labels will remain until further notice. But don’t instantly count Trubisky among the negative-nellies.
“The whole thing behind them has become a fascinating spectacle right now. That’s even what I’m interested in now. We’re gonna be out at practice, and I’ll be keeping track of who’s making and who’s missing and who’s winning the competition.”
“Fascinating spectacle”, apart from the choice of words itself, is a decidedly vague (and diplomatic) way to put it. Not necessarily “good,” not necessarily “bad,” just “fascinating.”
On Saturday, from 42 yards out, the results were better for the Bears kickers.
During his appearance last week on Pro Football Talk Live, Trubisky joked he has been “working on my leg, just in case.” It shouldn’t come to that, especially with a very familiar kicker practically begging the Bears to come get him. But it’s now out there, however casually and clearly in jest, that Trubisky is willing to channel Hall of Famer George Blanda as a quarterback/kicker dual threat if necessary.