(670 The Score) General manager Ryan Pace made it clear at his season-ending press conference that the Bears would have kicking competition this offseason. It didn't take long for that to begin.
The Bears are starting to work out a number of kickers Friday, according to multiple reports. They include Nick Folk, Blair Walsh and Austin MacGinnis, according to NFL Media, and three or four more kickers are expected to work out at a later point.
This evaluation comes in the aftermath of kicker Cody Parkey missing a 43-yard field goal in the waning seconds of the Bears' 16-15 wild-card game loss to the Eagles on Jan. 6. Parkey had missed seven field goals and three extra-point attempts during the regular season.
Signed to a four-year deal with $9 million guaranteed last March, Parkey was 23-of-30 on field-goal attempts in the regular season. Some of his misses proved to be costly, including a wayward 53-yard attempt that would've won a game at Miami on Oct. 14. Instead, the Bears fell 31-28 in overtime to the Dolphins. Had the Bears won one more regular-season game, they would've earned a first-round bye in the playoffs.
Parkey also missed four kicks -- two field goals and two extra points -- off the uprights in the Bears' 34-22 victory against the Lions on Nov. 11. Parkey's miss of the go-ahead kick in the wild-card game hit off the left upright and then the crossbar before bouncing out.
In the aftermath of his struggles, Parkey received overwhelming support from his teammates and coach Matt Nagy, but the tone changed after he appeared on the "Today Show" five days after the Bears' season-ending loss.
"We always talk about a 'we' and not a 'me' thing," Nagy said in the season-ending press conference. "And we always talk as a team, we win as a team, we lose as a team. I didn't necessarily think that was too much of a 'we' thing."
Folk, 34, was a Pro Bowl selection as a rookie in 2007 and most recently kicked with the Buccaneers in 2017. He didn't play in 2018. He has converted 245 of 305 field-goal attempts (80.3 percent) in his career.
Walsh, 29, was an All-Pro and Pro Bowl selection in his rookie year of 2012 and has converted 154 of 187 field-goal attempts (82.4 percent) in his career. He most recently played for the Seahawks in 2017, going 21-of-29 on field goals. He didn't play in 2018. Walsh's career has been in part defined by a missed go-ahead 27-yard field goal late in his Vikings' 10-9 loss to the Seahawks in a wild-card game in January 2016. He spent his first five NFL seasons in Minnesota.
MacGinnis, 23, hasn't kicked in the NFL. He hit 51 of 64 field-goal attempts (79.7 percent) during four seasons at Kentucky. He attended the Bears' rookie mini-camp last summer.
The Bears would owe Parkey $3.5 million more in guaranteed money should they choose to part ways.
Chris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago's sports scene and more for 670TheScore.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670.
