There were plenty of reasons why the Chicago Bears lost to the Kansas City Chiefs last Sunday. But kicker Eddy Pineiro wasn’t one of them. Not that the same could be said several other times this season.
Pineiro has had his ups and downs this season — including booting a 53-yard game-winning field goal against the Denver Broncos and missing what would’ve been a game-winning 41-yard field goal against the Los Angeles Chargers.
While it doesn’t change much in the grand scheme of things, Pineiro’s 46-yard field goal in the third quarter against the Chiefs was his first 40-plus successful kick since he missed two against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 11.
Since then, Pineiro has been near-perfect on his kicks, connecting on seven consecutive field goals and 10 for 11 on extra points.
“I was really happy that he made that,” coach Matt Nagy said of Pineiro’s kick against the Chiefs. “I think we’re in a good place with him right now. I think if there’s one storyline that we take out of this [it’s that] kickers are going to have some tough times, not only kicking at Soldier Field, but just the kicking world in general.”
Pineiro had a great start to his rookie season, where he connected on 9-of-10 field goals. But as the weather started to turn in Chicago, Pineiro found himself facing his first real adversity of the season.
Following a rough stretch, where he had some costly misses, Pineiro has found his footing, and Nagy feels confident about him heading into 2020. Pineiro has connected on 19 of 24 field goals this season, which ranks 26th in the NFL at 79.2%.
“I like what he has done all year long,” Nagy said. “Moving forward here, going into [2020], I think we know who he is and what we have.”
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