https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1107812393105739781

 

2yr  $4mil is more than I wanted to pay

Yeah, a UDFA would've cost a fraction of that. 2M per year seems steep for his performance and potential. The one common between all the Bears recent kickers is O'Donnell holding for them. His mediocre punting cost us field position and he shit the bed against the Eagles. Why pay 2M per year for 37-yd punts?

I agree but they may accept the cost for continuity instead of the unknown of a new punter. I'm for the risk but I'm not the GM.

13 hours ago, adam said:

Yeah, a UDFA would've cost a fraction of that. 2M per year seems steep for his performance and potential. The one common between all the Bears recent kickers is O'Donnell holding for them. His mediocre punting cost us field position and he shit the bed against the Eagles. Why pay 2M per year for 37-yd punts?

You'd think if it were the holder, one of the handful of kickers would've let it out  through the grapevine that the holding was crummy.  I just think it's bad luck.  Time to turn it around!  It's an interesting thought, but I think it's just random.

5 hours ago, madlithuanian said:

You'd think if it were the holder, one of the handful of kickers would've let it out  through the grapevine that the holding was crummy.  I just think it's bad luck.  Time to turn it around!  It's an interesting thought, but I think it's just random.

I don't think it is bad luck:

Robbie Gould w/ POD- 42-51 82.3%, w/o- 316-357 88.5%
Connor Barth w/POD- 29-39, 74.3%, w/o- 139-164 84.8%
Cody Parkey w/POD- 23-30 76.7%, w/o- 76-88, 86.4%

Gould's is hilarious, he had one season below 83% for FG% (his rookie year) before POD was on the team and the first year with POD he has a career low in FG% at 75% and also missed an XP. That was technically his worst year of his career. He followed that up with 2 misses from inside 39 yds and a missed XP in his last year as a Bear in 2015. Once he left the Bears and had a new holder, he magically returned to form and has only missed 10 total kicks of any variety in the last 3 seasons. So his dip in performance was literally the two years that POD was his holder. 

Barth came in with a decent percentage, then mysteriously couldn't hit the side of a barn while he was on the team. 

Parkey, even though he jumped around, still had a decent kicking percentage overall, then he comes to Chicago with POD as the holder and can only hit uprights.

Some say it is kicking in Chicago, well someone on Twitter did the work:

POD kickers- 81.8% on road, opponents on road- 92.5%
POD kickers- 75% at Soldier Field, opponents at Soldier Field- 87.5%

So even though our kickers should kick better than visiting players, they didn't with POD as the holder. 
 

 

15 minutes ago, adam said:

I don't think it is bad luck:

Robbie Gould w/ POD- 42-51 82.3%, w/o- 316-357 88.5%
Connor Barth w/POD- 29-39, 74.3%, w/o- 139-164 84.8%
Cody Parkey w/POD- 23-30 76.7%, w/o- 76-88, 86.4%

Gould's is hilarious, he had one season below 83% for FG% (his rookie year) before POD was on the team and the first year with POD he has a career low in FG% at 75% and also missed an XP. That was technically his worst year of his career. He followed that up with 2 misses from inside 39 yds and a missed XP in his last year as a Bear in 2015. Once he left the Bears and had a new holder, he magically returned to form and has only missed 10 total kicks of any variety in the last 3 seasons. So his dip in performance was literally the two years that POD was his holder. 

Barth came in with a decent percentage, then mysteriously couldn't hit the side of a barn while he was on the team. 

Parkey, even though he jumped around, still had a decent kicking percentage overall, then he comes to Chicago with POD as the holder and can only hit uprights.

Some say it is kicking in Chicago, well someone on Twitter did the work:

POD kickers- 81.8% on road, opponents on road- 92.5%
POD kickers- 75% at Soldier Field, opponents at Soldier Field- 87.5%

So even though our kickers should kick better than visiting players, they didn't with POD as the holder. 
 

 

That is spooky! And yes, there has to be something to it.

How many coaches around that may notice he is doing something wrong. I doubt he is the problem. I think the problem has to do with where we kick. The lakefront is brutal with wind patterns.  I'm curious if I can find the stats for kicking here and away games. I'll check it out. 

1 hour ago, Stinger226 said:

How many coaches around that may notice he is doing something wrong. I doubt he is the problem. I think the problem has to do with where we kick. The lakefront is brutal with wind patterns.  I'm curious if I can find the stats for kicking here and away games. I'll check it out. 

It may be a mental disconnect that the eye test can't explain.  Conspiracy theories are real, lol.

1 hour ago, Stinger226 said:

How many coaches around that may notice he is doing something wrong. I doubt he is the problem. I think the problem has to do with where we kick. The lakefront is brutal with wind patterns.  I'm curious if I can find the stats for kicking here and away games. I'll check it out. 

Getting a solid footing on your plant foot would worry me more than wind.  

When it comes to Parkey I remember reading or hearing something about how his approach to each kick is inconsistent, either in his approach/setup itself or his mechanics in kicking the ball. If that's the case it's much like a QB your only as good as your mechanics generally.

18 hours ago, adam said:

I don't think it is bad luck:

Robbie Gould w/ POD- 42-51 82.3%, w/o- 316-357 88.5%
Connor Barth w/POD- 29-39, 74.3%, w/o- 139-164 84.8%
Cody Parkey w/POD- 23-30 76.7%, w/o- 76-88, 86.4%

Gould's is hilarious, he had one season below 83% for FG% (his rookie year) before POD was on the team and the first year with POD he has a career low in FG% at 75% and also missed an XP. That was technically his worst year of his career. He followed that up with 2 misses from inside 39 yds and a missed XP in his last year as a Bear in 2015. Once he left the Bears and had a new holder, he magically returned to form and has only missed 10 total kicks of any variety in the last 3 seasons. So his dip in performance was literally the two years that POD was his holder. 

Barth came in with a decent percentage, then mysteriously couldn't hit the side of a barn while he was on the team. 

Parkey, even though he jumped around, still had a decent kicking percentage overall, then he comes to Chicago with POD as the holder and can only hit uprights.

Some say it is kicking in Chicago, well someone on Twitter did the work:

POD kickers- 81.8% on road, opponents on road- 92.5%
POD kickers- 75% at Soldier Field, opponents at Soldier Field- 87.5%

So even though our kickers should kick better than visiting players, they didn't with POD as the holder. 
 

 

Stats don't tell the whole story.  Normally, as a player gets older, the stats get worse.  Barth is out of the league.  Parkey...who knows.  We also know Gould has let it be known that he was off and needed the idea of being kicked off to light a fire under him.  We also must remember that he struggled a year as a NYG before going to SF and regaining his form.  Any surprise Gould kicked better in SF?  Weather...

Here's Gould per NFL.com

His best year was w NYG at 100% (after he replaced Josh Brown...but he also missed 3 eps that year  - 2 against us).  His best in Chicago was 89.7% in 2013 and 2008.  In SF, his average has been  about 96%.  O'D wasn't holding from 2005-2013 and his % was 86%.  For the next 2 OD years, he was at 85.35%.  With a really bad 2014 at 75%.  Noting that he only attempted 12 kicks as we had to have Jay Feeley come in for 4 games and kick 3/4 for also 75%.  Take out the odd 2014 year, and it's all really close.  

The stats "in opponents vs us away and on the road" is misleading.  If we have the premise that our kickers suck, then it matters not who's holding. 

While there is enough stats to make a thought that it's all OD, there's equal info that shows it's just that the kickers sucked.   

For all of our sakes, I hope I am right and you are wrong that it ain't POD.  Because he's here 2 more years...

 

 

14 hours ago, BearFan2000 said:

When it comes to Parkey I remember reading or hearing something about how his approach to each kick is inconsistent, either in his approach/setup itself or his mechanics in kicking the ball. If that's the case it's much like a QB your only as good as your mechanics generally.

I suspect that was actually a post I wrote and the info came from my son as we watched a game late in the season.  He was a college soccer player who could pretty much put a soccer ball on whichever post you wanted it.

8 hours ago, AZ54 said:

 He was a college soccer player who could pretty much put a soccer ball on whichever post you wanted it.

It's all making sense now lol