Fry continues strong kicker showing
BOURBONNAIS — Kicker
Elliott Fry stepped toward the football Monday when his plant foot slipped on the slippery grass at rainy Olivet Nazarene University. He kicked the ball on his way down anyway, but the 51-yard field-goal attempt didn’t make it to the end zone on the fly.
No matter. He lined up again and made the kick, finishing another strong performance. Fry made eight of his 10 tries, also missing a 39-yarder. ‘‘[Special-teams coordinator
Chris Tabor] and I talked about that,’’ coach Matt Nagy said. ‘‘We don’t care about wind, we don’t care about rain, we don’t care about whatever . . . .
‘‘Conditions don’t matter. Whatever it happens to be that day . . . you saw Elliott slip on that one. That could happen. Next-play mentality and make the next one. I thought he did a good job.’’
With the Bears alternating days for their kickers, Eddy Pineiro’s next turn comes Tuesday.
‘‘Obviously, we’ve got a good kicker competition going,’’ quarterback Mitch Trubisky said. ‘‘And it’s cool to see them make field goals, and I think it adds extra pressure just having the fans [in attendance]. They know that everyone is watching them. But they’ve done a great job just delivering, making a bunch of kicks, and the competition is going to keep going. And as teammates, we’ll just keep supporting them.’’
Replay review
The Bears held their annual meeting with an NFL officiating crew Sunday evening. Referee Adrian Hill’s crew explained the new rules for the season, including one that allows coaches to challenge offensive and defensive pass-interference calls — and non-calls. Only officials can review plays with less than two minutes left in each half.
The rule change is a reaction to a missed defensive passinterference call in the NFC Championship Game between the Rams and Saints.
‘‘I’m definitely a fan for the OPI/DPI, and I think it’s good for the game,’’ Nagy said. ‘‘But there’s some difficult spots you can be in as a head coach to where you have to choose early on in the game [whether] you are going to challenge that or not.
‘‘And so we have some coaches on staff that know this is the rule inside-out. And some other people on staff . . . get together collectively and just talk it through.’’
Backup quarterback Chase Daniel said teams will use preseason games to find ways to exploit the rule.
‘‘It’ll definitely get tested in the preseason,’’ he said. ‘‘They have four games to figure it out.’’
Saints cut Meredith
The Bears’ controversial decision to give receiver Cam Meredith a $1.9 million tender, then not match the Saints’ twoyear, $9.5 million offer in April 2018 proved to be the proper one. The Saints cut Meredith on Monday.
The Bears were concerned about Meredith’s left knee after he tore the anterior cruciate ligament and other ligaments in it during the preseason in 2017. Swelling in the same knee was so bad last season that the Saints put Meredith on injured reserve in November.