Kaare Vedvik had been on the Bears’ radar for a hot minute, but now we have an idea of how hot on the trail they were in their quest to make him their next kicker:

Pro Football Weekly has confirmed that Bears weren’t just in on Kaare Vedvik trade talks with Ravens, they were the most aggressive of 5 teams before Vikings outbid them. — Hub Arkush (@Hub_Arkush) August 15, 2019

Hub Arkush of Pro Football Weekly tweets the Bears were ultra-aggressive in their bidding for Ravens kicker Kaare Vedvik. Arkush goes as far as saying the Bears were “the most aggressive” of the five teams who made a push to trade for Justin Tucker’s strong-legged backup. Of course, that changed when the Vikings upped the ante and put a fifth-round pick in the upcoming 2020 NFL Draft on the table. Once that was out there, the Ravens snatched that offer and scampered. Good luck doing better than a fifth-round pick with no strings attached for a kicker who was not going to make your team’s season-opening 53-man roster under any circumstances.

Chicago was always going to be borderline overzealous, when it came to the pursuit of a new kicker … and not just because of how desperately the team wants to fill that spot. Every time the Bears have an opening at an important position, GM Ryan Pace goes hard after the best available options. When the Bears needed a pass-rusher in the draft, they moved up to select Leonard Floyd. When the team needed a quarterback, Pace pushed his chips to the center of the table to make a move for Mitch Trubisky. In his coaching search, Pace shopped at the top of the market, interviewed a handful of the top options before reeling in Matt Nagy. And when Pace’s team needed a superstar to push things to another level, he went all-in to trade for Khalil Mack. All things considered, it should come as no surprise that the Bears were willing to be bold in their push to trade for Vedvik, who has made 11-of-12 field goals over the last two preseasons. Perhaps it was the Bears ultra-aggressive trading history that pushed the Vikings to offer up a draft pick that didn’t have any conditions attached.

The Bears’ search for a new kicker was always going to be an exhaustive one, it’s just that I’m not sure anyone was prepared for it to be an exhausting one, too.