Did Eddy Piniero do enough this preseason to ensure a 53-man roster spot?
The Chicago Bears kicking battle has been no joke. The team sorted through AAF kickers, college kickers, even try out players. They looked everywhere.
However, with two weeks to go, they decided to make the job Eddy Piniero’s to lose. Piniero outlasted every kicker in camp and had two games to put his stamp on the Bears kicker job.
In the third preseason game, he drilled his longest kick of the preseason, giving all Bears fans confidence.
In the fourth, all of the confidence built was gone. Piniero did not just missed. He shanked an extra point. Badly.
Piniero regrouped from there to make three more kicks, although none of them over 40. Matt Nagy had a chance to kick a 50-yarder, and 48-yarder but elected not to.
Was that because he knew a miss would hurt morale in a big way to close out preseason?
Whatever the reasoning Piniero finished the preseason 8-9 and 3-4 kicking extra points. It is not perfect, but he in the driver seat.
Nagy was very non-committal to the idea that the battle was over post game. Of course, that would mean that the team would have to wait until cuts to find another potential kicker. Would they cut Piniero? Would the two compete for a week?
The semantics make it feel like Piniero won. However, the tone and actions tell you despite a win, the team still does not feel the upmost confidence in what he can do when the lights come on.
We thought the kicker issue would resolve at some point, but we will head into Week 1 just as nervous as we left the playoffs last year.