NEWSLETTER
WELP, I guess it is time to address the elephant in the room.
Eddy Piñeiro kicked his way onto the Chicago Bears’ season-opening 53-man roster. In training camp, Piñeiro displayed a booming leg and showed off some swag. That confidence carried over into the preseason, where Piñeiro booted a 58-yard field goal in the Bears’ third preseason game against the Colts. Andrew Luck’s shocking retirement stole the headlines, but we kept our eyes on the prize. In the end, it was Piñeiro representing the last man standing in a competition that featured more than 10 possible options.
First-year kickers are a dice roll, and projecting what Piñeiro will do is a fool’s errand. Robbie Gould made 77.8 percent of his kicks as a rookie in 2005, and the Bears went to the playoffs that season. That was pretty sweet! And for what it’s worth, Bears second-year head coach Matt Nagy knows what a good rookie kicker can do for an offense. Because when Nagy was the offensive coordinator for the playoff-bound Chiefs in 2017, he watched Harrison Butker make 90.5 percent of his field goal attempts. Surely, Nagy is hoping history repeats itself with Piñeiro representing the Bears’ long-term solution at the position.
But as you can tell by those two examples, there is no fool-proof formula to predict first-year kicker efficiency. HOWEVER, there is one sure-fire way to ensure tonight’s game isn’t decided by the right leg of a rookie — and that is to score touchdowns (and not settle for field goals). It’s simple math, really. You don’t need to be a mathematician to know 6 > 3. Go get those touchdowns, gang.
Game Info
Chicago Bears (2018: 12-4, 1st NFC North) vs. Green Bay Packers (6-9-1, 3rd NFC North), 7:20 CT, NBC (Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth, Michelle Tafoya), WBBM-AM 780 and WCFS-FM 105.9 (Jeff Joniak, Tom Thayer, Mark Grote), Westwood Radio (Kevin Harlan, Kurt Warner, Hub Arkush)
Odds: Bears (-3), Over/Under 46.5, via the Westgate Superbook in Las Vegas.
Game Thread and Week 1 Preview
Your game thread is down in the comments, so let’s have some good, clean (safe-for-work) fun. And hopefully, we can get the 2019 regular season started on the right foot..
Your Week 1 Preview lives here.
Coaches
Matt Nagy (12-4) vs. Matt LaFleur (making his NFL head-coaching debut)
Starting Quarterbacks
Bears: Mitch Trubisky: 3,223 yards, 24 TD, 12 INT, 66.6 completion pct., 95.4 rating
Last year vs. Packers: 43-63 (68.3%), 406 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT, 96.4 rating
versus
Packers: Aaron Rodgers: 4,442 yards, 25 TD, 2 INT, 62.3 completion pct., 97.6 rating
Last year vs. Bears: 45-72 (62.5%), 560 yards, 3 TD, 1 INT, 94.7 rating
Bears Inactives:
Inactives for #GBvsCHI. pic.twitter.com/TiezJDyZx5
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) September 5, 2019
Bears Expected Offensive Starters
Bears Expected Defensive Starters
Bears Specialists
Packers Inactives:
Packers inactives. Summers gets the start at ILB for Burks. pic.twitter.com/tjlygFteu6
— Aaron Nagler (@AaronNagler) September 5, 2019
