Chicago Bears: Biggest winners and losers from training camp

Loser #2: Bears kickers

We all know how the 2018 season ended for the Bears, and I don’t want to keep picking at that wound. Former Bears kicker and hated Today Show guest Cody Parkey traumatized Bears fans throughout last season.

Parkey is gone now. In his wake, the Bears tried out a slew of new kickers hoping to solve this team’s one glaring weakness. Out of the ashes remained two kickers: Eddy Piniero and Elliott Fry. These two competed throughout training camp for the starting job.

Neither kicker was that impressive, although they did both make 60+ yard field goals on consecutive days of practice. That obviously means nothing, and fans should be nervous about the kicker situation going into this season.

Pineiro missed a 48-yard attempt in the team’s first preseason game. Panthers coach Ron Rivera said he iced Elliott to try and help the Bears with the kicking competition. Elliott then made the 43-yard attempt, the same distance as Parkey’s infamous miss.

It’s highly likely that the starting kicker for the Bears in their week one matchup against the Green Bay Packers isn’t even on the roster yet. I’m not confident that Piniero or Fry is the answer.

One option could be Packers kicker Mason Crosby, who is owed $4.85 million this season and is currently in a kicking competition with Sam Ficken. Ficken was brought in as a cheaper option that could win the job.

If the Packers decide to go the cheap route, the Bears need to swoop in and take Crosby. I doubt it happens, but this is the team’s biggest need. This could end up costing them their season…again.