HE WAITRESS high-steps through
a gantlet of carry-on bags, maneu-
vering her way to the four young
men dressed in sweats bearing their
college logos. Two kickers, a holder
and a long snapper are piled into
vinyl seats. Here, in the crumb-lined
booth of an airport Chili’s, is where
their journey ends.
It’s the first Sunday in May, and the four are wait-
ing for their afternoon flights out of O’Hare. They’re
among the many specialists who have left Halas Hall
empty-handed, save for a Bears nameplate peeking
out of an unzipped backpack atop a pile of duffel bags
just outside the restaurant’s entrance. Between sips
of beer, Spencer Evans, one of the kickers, mentions
that the competition seemed strange from the start.
Long snapper Luke Idoni wonders—and, sometimes,
still does—if those three days in Lake Forest were all
a weird dream.Obsession! Overanalysis! Conspiracy! Welcome to the wildest kicker competition ever held.
Seven months after the “double-doink” sunk their Super Bowl hopes, the
with finding the right foot as pressure builds toward their next big kick