Kicking in a warm and breezy training camp environment has its perks. Nevertheless, it was still encouraging to see Elliott Fry and Eddy Piñeiro start the Chicago Bears’ place-kicking competition on the right foot. But still … I couldn’t shake the thought of what it would look like when these guys started kicking in adverse conditions.
WELP, we got one answer on Monday:
Elliott Fry goes 8-for-10 with his field goals during his day as the Bears’ kicker. He worked efficiently in the wind and rain, the exception being a slip kicking from 51. He got a redo and drilled it.
— Chris Emma (@CEmma670) July 29, 2019
Fry became the first Bears camp kicker to perform in the elements — and he did so admirably. He made 8-of-10 kicks on a windy and rainy morning on the campus of Olivet Nazarene University, with the only misses coming from 39 and 51 yards out. Through two public practices, Fry is now 17-for-20 in training camp kicks. Hey, that’s not bad! There isn’t a Bears fan out there who wouldn’t take an 85 percent success rate after what we saw last season.
Because the Bears are alternating days in which their kickers work, Piñeiro didn’t get a chance to show what he can do kicking a wet ball through the wind. And with the next two public practices being scheduled on days where temperatures will be in the low-80s with sunshine, it might be a while until we see Piñeiro put his big leg on display in adverse conditions. I suppose it’s in the hands of the weather gods now if we’ll see it at all.
Overall, Fry and Piñeiro have combined to go 24-for-28 on kicks. That math comes out to an 85.7 percent success rate. And while I know we’re talking about a little more than two dozen kicks in a practice setting, the potential for things to go sideways at the start was there and it hasn’t happened yet. At minimum, this is an encouraging start for the Bears and their special teams brain-trust who put this competition together.