Is Ryan Poles taking a page out of Ryan Pace’s Chicago Bears playbook?

After we were cursed by the double-doink of Cody Parkey, Ryan Pace did not hesitate to make a change. Parkey was released by the team and we witnessed something like no other in the NFL — a kicking tryout held similar to a camp. The Chicago Bears were about to change the way teams decided on a new kicker. Alright, that has yet to happen. Instead, the Bears are viewed in a strange light once again.

Before the NFL Draft, the team already had three kickers on the roster. Typically, when holding an open tryout at the kicker position, a team will bring three to five kickers, maybe swapping out a couple along the way. That’s not what happened with the Chicago Bears though. Instead, they had a total of nine kickers during their early minicamp. Yes, nine is the number, and many other team’s personnel and/or former players thought it to be ridiculous.

The Chicago Bears look to be headed down a similar path

The funny part is that none of those nine even ended up making the final 53-man roster. Instead, the Bears made a trade with the Raiders, sending a conditional seventh-round pick for Eddy Pineiro. Pineiro, Elliot Fry and Chris Blewitt were the final three left and a real kicking competition ensued. Blewitt was the first to be released and then Fry and Pineiro took turns with attempts. In the end, as we all know, Eddy Pineiro walked away with the job. In a sense, the craziness worked as Pineiro seemed to be much better than Cody Parkey.

Injuries derailed that situation and then Cairo Santos made a second appearance with the Chicago Bears to eventually take over and win the starting kicking job. He has been extremely accurate for the team — setting a franchise record for most consecutive field goals made. Did the kicking tryout really work then? Would the team have found a similar-to-same result had they just stuck with three to five guys? We will never know.