Bears boot Blewitt, cut number of kickers to 2

LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- The Chicago Bears' kicking competition experienced another setback on Tuesday, and it wound up costing one player his job.

The Bears waived kicker Chris Blewitt on Wednesday after all three kickers who participated in Tuesday's mandatory minicamp practice missed their respective 42-yard field goal attempts in front of the entire team and approximately 25 Bears alumni who had gathered at the team facility to watch the workout.

"Um, whatever went through your mind went through my mind," Bears head coach Matt Nagy said of the poor kicking results.

"Yeah, no, I mean, that's about as real as it gets. They were 0-for-3 out there. For today, we can't have that. We are going to figure this thing out but 0-for-3 today, no good."

Blewitt's release leaves Eddy Pineiro and Elliott Fry as the two Chicago kickers currently under contract. The Bears are scheduled to hold two more minicamp practices before the team breaks for the summer.

The Bears are expected to report to training camp in late July, where the kicking situation will undoubtedly be one of the major storylines for a club looking to repeat as NFC North champion.

"We talk it through and we figure it out and we do everything we possibly can to make sure that in the end, when we get to the very end, we have the right guy there," Nagy said.

The Bears have actively searched for a new starting place-kicker since the club cut Cody Parkey, who missed eight kicks last season, including the infamous 43-yard double-doink at the end of Chicago's 16-15 playoff loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.