That means that the nickel competition is officially a starting position battle. Chicago Bears nickel competition heats upWithout Gordon, it was unclear who would lead in the nickel competition and how the competition would shape up. Meanwhile, both Josh Blackwell and rookie Malik Muhammad were in the mix, but not quite as involved as the other two. As promised by Bears DC Dennis Allen, there were different players at nickel back with Kyler Gordon sidelined. Lewis has 545 career snaps in the slot and last year played 145 slot snaps for the Buffalo Bills.