Pat O'Donnell Proves He Can Handle Fickle Soldier Field
When Pat O'Donnell had his fourth punt blocked in six Bears seasons last year it might have raised a few eyebrows.
There's nothing wrong with O'Donnell in this regard, however. He's getting the ball away in time just fine. The last three blocked punts all came about because of total and complete breakdowns in the blocking.
O'Donnell has been a steady, unspectacular punter through his career of punting in a place where steady and spectacular are totally spectacular considering the wind conditions at Soldier Field.
In fact, he's got a chance to make some money this year with another good season because he's in the final year of his current deal and getting $1.85 million.
O'Donnell's 44.9-yard career average is the best all time for the Bears and his average of 47.0 in 2017 is the team single-season record. Most remarkable about his team-record season was the fact it came when he had to make a career-high number of punts (87). Normally averages come down with more attempts.
It's difficult enough to punt at Soldier Field that even when he had an average or 44.8 yards last year—only a tenth of a yard lower than his career mark—he was only 21st in punting average among punters with at least 50 punts.
The previous year when he averaged a full yard longer, O'Donnell still was only 12th in the league in average.
It's simply a difficult place to punt and there's no way around it, especially later in the season.
O'Donnell has improved at punting it inside the 20, as well.
In the last three years he's been better on average than in his first four years at doing this, and had been one of the league's worst his rookie year of 2014.
When the Bears drafted O'Donnell they were hoping to get a bigger, stronger punter who could tolerate the cold winds at Soldier Field.
For someone from just north of Miami, O'Donnell has adjusted just fine.
In fact, he's proving a little stronger than they could have ever anticipated. His leg held up just fine last year even though they made him kick off 15 times when Eddy Pineiro was injured. And this came in a season when he punted 80 times, the second-most punts for a season in his career.
Pat O'Donnell at a Glance
Miami Punter
Height: 6-foot-4
Weight: 212
Key Numbers: The career-long punt of 75 yards by Pat O'Donnell last year at Denver in Week 2 was longer than any by a Bears punter since Brad Maynard hit one the same distance in 2002.
Roster Chance: 5 on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the highest.
2020 Projection: 45.0 per punt, long of 67.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
