With a revolving door of kickers this offseason for the Chicago Bears, it is finally set in stone who will be booting the ball for the century-old franchise for this season. Head coach Matt Nagy announced Sunday that Eddy Pineiro will be Chicago’s starting place kicker. This might not be big news for some, but even after the roster was cut down to 53 players, it was still up in the air whether or not Pineiro would stick to the roster. Especially with other kickers being released by their respective teams around the league.
Despite many rumors and speculations of the Bears possibly replacing the soon-to-be 24-year-old, all faith will be put into the inexperienced kicker come this Thursday night when Chicago kicks off the 2019 season against the rival Green Bay Packers.
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Pineiro, who the Bears acquired this offseason via trade with the Oakland Raiders, connected on eight of nine field-goal attempts and three of four extra-point attempts during the preseason. The highlight of his stats was a 58-yard field goal he made against the Indianapolis Colts in the Bears’ lone win of the preseason. It was these numbers that helped the University of Florida product beat out fellow kicker Elliot Fry during training camp and the exhibition contests.
When asked by the media, Nagy said that Pineiro “certainly earned it,” and that the coaching staff “feel[s] good about it.”
As mentioned earlier, Pineiro is inexperienced as a kicker in the NFL, not having attempted a kick of any kind during a regular-season game. With this kicking battle having had the attention of a quarterback battle, it’s safe to say that all eyes will be on Pineiro every time he sets foot on the field. Given the fact that this Week 1 matchup against the Packers will be nationally televised, it makes everything that Pineiro does even more magnified.
This kicking situation was probably the Bears’ weakest spot on their roster. Now, we’ll just have to wait and see if that spot is solidified for years to come.