The Chicago Bears have released kicker Paul Edinger, making recently-signed Doug Brien the front-runner for the job in 2005. Edinger had spent each of his five NFL seasons with the Bears, who made the Michigan State product their sixth-round draft pick in 2000. "We appreciate Paul's contributions to our team over the last five seasons," said Bears general manager Jerry Angelo in a release. "With the addition of Doug Brien to our roster, and watching him and our two rookies over this weekend's mini-camp, we felt comfortable granting Paul's request to be released. We feel good about the direction of our kicking position and Paul will have the opportunity to join another team's offseason program well before training camp." Edinger led the Bears in scoring during each of his five seasons, posting 112 points in 2001 and 105 in 2003, and his 110 field goals rank third in team history. However, he missed an NFL-high nine field goal tries last season and slumped to a career-low 67 points. In his career, Edinger has been successful on all 133 of his extra-point attempts and has made 110-of-146 field goal tries. Brien was signed by the Bears last week after he was released by the New York Jets last month. He posted 105 points in each of the past two seasons for the Jets, but missed a couple of critical field goal attempts in the playoffs and New York used a second-round draft pick on kicker Mike Nugent.