This is where the fun begins:
Matt Nagy confirms Eddy Piñeiro will be the Bears’ kicker on Thursday night.
— Kevin Fishbain (@kfishbain) September 1, 2019
Chicago Bears Head Coach Matt Nagy told reporters at Halas Hall that Eddy Piñeiro will be the team’s place-kicker in Week 1 against the Green Bay Packers. So you can cancel your waiver-wire search for any possible alternate options.
It has been a journey just to get to this point. The Bears interviewed every kicker under the sun at the combine, hired a kicking consultant, introduced new methodologies in which to analyze kicks, obsessed over a particular kick, and ultimately settled on a training camp competition between Piñeiro and Elliott Fry. In the end, Piñeiro came out on top of a wild and grueling kicking competition that featured as many as 16 viable options. Good job, guy.
There will be no more looking over his shoulder for Piñeiro. No more practice kicks from 43 yards out for the sake of feeling the burn of last year’s bitter postseason defeat. No more obsessive kicker watch posts (well, at least for now). It’s Piñeiro’s job. And if he kicks well, it figures to be his for a while. If not, then … you know what, let’s not even travel down that road.
The Bears are providing a clean slate at the position, and we should take advantage of it while the time is right. We’re on to Green Bay.