...by swapping Robbie Gould for Connor Barth. Gould was very ordinary the second half of last season, after a great start. He also took some of the blame for the Bears' poor kickoff coverage. Fox had confidence in Barth, who kicked very well for him in Denver in 2014. So the Bears saw it as a roughly even swap - at worst a very slight downgrade - with big cap benefits.
By the way, Barth hasn't been very good - missing two of his three attempts from 40+, and three of twelve overall. The Bears are so bad that Barth has been a minor factor. He did have one embarrassing, costly sequence in the third quarter of a loss to Indianapolis. With Chicago trailing 19-13, Barth missed a 54-yard attempt, but got a reprieve when T.J.Green was flagged for running into him. Barth then missed again from 49.
Read earlier it was poor performance in pre-season.
My best guess is he was underperforming
By the way, Barth hasn't been very good - missing two of his three attempts from 40+, and three of twelve overall. The Bears are so bad that Barth has been a minor factor. He did have one embarrassing, costly sequence in the third quarter of a loss to Indianapolis. With Chicago trailing 19-13, Barth missed a 54-yard attempt, but got a reprieve when T.J.Green was flagged for running into him. Barth then missed again from 49.