Matt Nagy Finally Named a Starting Kicker and the Bears Can't Really Screw This up Again Right
By Parker White
As we all know, the Chicago Bears have had a rough time finding themselves a kicker who can kick in the clutch. Even Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera tried to help his former team out by purposefully icing the kicker in a preseason game.
Bears head coach Matt Nagy has found his guy, at least for the first week of the season. Eddy Pineiro was not cut from the roster and will be the starter for the opener against the Green Bay Packers.
#Bears coach Matt Nagy tells reporters that K Eddy Pineiro will kick in the season opener vs. the #Packers. “He deserves it.”
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 1, 2019
“His body of work,” coach Matt Nagy said of why he chose Pineiro. “We feel like he certainly earned it.”
It seemed that the battle for starting kicking duties was between Pineiro and Elliot Fry, but the 23-year-old helped himself out by hitting a 58-yard field goal against the Indianapolis Colts in the preseason and following it up by going 3-for-3 against the Tennessee Titans in the finale.
It's official: The Bears will go forward with Eddy Pineiro as their kicker for the opener Thursday against the Packers. https://t.co/zVnWJNeK6p
— Sun-Times Sports (@suntimes_sports) September 1, 2019
Pineiro has never kicked in a regular-season game before, so you can imagine debuting against a bitter rival will bring some nerves. On top of that, he'll be the Bears' youngest kicker since Robbie Gould in 2005.