In case you missed it over the weekend, Bears kicker Eddy PiƱeiro suffered a knee injury in the weight room on Friday and was a limited participant in Saturday’s practice. Because of course.
PiƱeiro was listed as questionable to play on the final injury report of Week 3. And while Head Coach Matt Nagy has to play a wait-and-see game until PiƱeiro’s status is resolved, he shared a glimmer of hope on Monday morning in an interview with WBBM Newsradio 780-AM.
When asked if PiƱeiro was going to be available for tonight’s game against Washington, Nagy was equal parts noncommittal and hopeful.
“We’ll see how he feels later tonight. He’ll be OK, I feel good about it,” Nagy said. “We’ll get a pulse from him as to how it’s feeling and then we’ll adapt to what he says.”
You can listen to Nagy’s full interview here:
Nagy said the team will look at contingency plans as the day goes along as it continues to monitor PiƱeiro’s status. And even if PiƱeiro can give it a go tonight, it does not necessarily mean he will be at full strength. Nagy made note that if PiƱeiro is still hurting during the game, the team will be in a place to possibly re-visit the contingency plans the coach alluded to in the interview.
We explored what some possible contingency plans couldĀ look like in case PiƱeiro was unavailable. But with PiƱeiro making the trip with the team to Washington, I imagine the Elliott Fry plan is out the window. Punter Pat O’Donnell has place-kicking experience, but hasn’t done it since high school.
I suppose the Bears’ best plan of attack would be to score touchdowns against a Washington defense that allowed Philadelphia to air it out and Dallas to run wild on the ground. Now,Ā thatĀ is a plan that could be crazy enough to work. Touchdowns. Imagine that.