The Bears were last year’s surprise success story. Very few people had them pegged as division champs and potential Super Bowl contenders, but that’s just what they were in 2018. That didn’t make it hurt any less when they were denied a playoff victory by the “Double Doink”, the now-infamous missed kick by Cody Parkey that bounced off both uprights at the end of the Bears’ divisional playoff game and cost them both a victory and their season.

A few months later, I’m sad to report that absolutely nothing has changed in Chicago. Cody Parkey is no longer a Bear, but the team has had since January to fix their Kicker problem. Rookie minicamp indicates that they have not fixed that problem.

Frankly, it’s pretty brutal of Matt Nagy to put the rookie kickers out there, in front of everyone, and try to literally prove that they’ll succeed where others failed. That kind of pressure pales in comparison to what the eventual kicker will face in a real game, but it’s still May. Cut them some slack, Matt.

Still, this is a discouraging update. 43 yards is a long way in that Chicago wind, but it’s average range for any professional kicker. To bring out all the guys you signed with the hopes that they’d meet that minimum requirement, and watch as they all miss, can’t be uplifting.

The Bears will need to figure it out by August. They’re now on a clock with their contending status; their best chance to win a Super Bowl will come in the next three years, while Mitch Trubisky’s contract is still on the cheap side. They were robbed by one slightly off kick last year, and don’t want to see another year of contending slip away in the same manner. We learned today that they still have work to do.