Matt Nagy squanders excellent kicking opportunity for Chicago Bears

Chicago Bears (Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images)
Chicago Bears (Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The Chicago Bears had an opportunity to learn everything they needed to know about kicker Eddy Piniero, but Matt Nagy was not interested

The Chicago Bears lost a meaningless preseason football game. However, as Matt Nagy said in the offseason, the preseason was going to be about evaluating players. Nagy mentioned that the outcome of the game does not matter nearly as much as what they learn from the games, so the play calls may be surprising to some.

So, when the Chicago Bears were trailing by four points, they were in the hurry-up offense. Everyone watching the game had to be thinking that despite being down by four points, they would be looking to get off a last-second field goal.

Heck, Nagy had talked openly about the play calling in the preseason. He talked even more openly about the kicking competition.

Nagy vowed to get this right. He admitted that he was committing to stressing these kickers and putting them in pressure situations where they needed to make kicks

What happened from there was his kickers struggled. The team failed to find winners despite the tests that Nagy laid out. So, the team traded for Eddy Piniero. Piniero did not necessarily win the job as much as Elliott Fry lost the job, but Piniero slowly became the Bears kicker. A huge make in preseason Week 3 all but solidified the job.

However, a missed PAT in Week 4 should have added doubts. Pineiro went to make three field goals.

However, when the Bears had a chance for a fourth, Nagy balked.

The Bears had spiked the football at the 31-yard line, with just seconds remaining. The situation was literally perfect. The end of the preseason is on the line. The job of Eddy Piniero is on the line.

There is a 48-yard kick that he can make, end the preseason, and the send the Bears into the locker room with momentum despite a losing effort in Week 4 of the preseason.

More from Bear Goggles On

However, the fear of him missing, the Bears going into the locker room having to answer questions about the kicker, with that cloud hanging over their heads in Week 1 loomed larger.

The team put the offense on the field, got a penalty and ran a quick pass for nothing.

Nagy laughed it off saying that he was trying to win. He has not played a single starter-aside from Piniero-in weeks. If he was trying to win the big picture he would be testing the only starter who has not won a job. He said those words himself before the preseason. It is about finding out who the kicker is, even if the play calls are off.

The fact of the matter is that Piniero is going to have to make pressure kicks. Yes, 48 is long, but that is what he has to make if he wants to earn an NFL paycheck.

No one cares if he cut the lead to one, he was kicking a last-second kick for his job. When it came down to it, Nagy did not trust him to make the kick. He was more concerned about the lingering effects of a miss than the uplifting results of a make.

Who can blame him, what has Piniero earned? But, Piniero will likely enter Week 1 on the roster. It is tough to say what kind of confidence if any Matt Nagy has in his kicker at this point.